Chasing 304, Australia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Faulkner clobbered Ishant Sharma for a four and four sixes in the 48th over

James Faulkner smashed a fifty off 24 balls and helped pull a sensational heist for Australia, who sneaked in through the back-door for a four-wicket victory over India to go 2-1 up in the seven-match series.

Chasing 304, Australia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Faulkner clobbered Ishant Sharma for a four and four sixes in the 48th over, which yielded 30 runs and put the Aussies on the course to an improbable victory. Sharma bowled length balls, short balls and invited Faulkner to take his pick and left Australia with 14 to win off the last two overs. R Ashwin bowled a brilliant penultimate over, giving away only five but Faulkner kept his cool and deposited Vinay Kumar for his sixth six to hand Australia an incredible victory.

It was India's game for most of the day. They were four down in the 13th over after they had been put in by Australia but Dhoni's unbeaten 139 off 121 balls (12 fours, 5 sixes), his ninth hundred and Virat Kohli's fourth successive score of over fifty, set the foundation for one of the finest comebacks in modern-day cricket. Despite Mitchell Johnson's 4/46, India managed to finish with 303/9 off their 50 overs, setting Australia a tough target.

The Aussies of course started well, as they would expect from Aron Finch and Phil Hughes, who added 68 for the first wicket but lost their way thereafter, losing key wickets as the required run rate was allowed to shoot past unmanageable proportions. Skipper George Bailey (43) tried hard but Adam Voges in spite of his fourth half-century, proved to be a detriment - at a time when Australia were forced to score at nearly eight an over for the latter half of the innings, Voges, playing his 28th ODI, took 63 balls to get to his fifty. Besides, he was guilty of calling the big hitting Glenn Maxwell for a run before sending him back, only for Shikhar Dhawan to catch the latter short with with a direct hit.

However, Australia were propped up by a quick cameo by Brad Haddin (24 off 16) before Voges and Faulkner creamed 91 off 50 balls to set up a sensational win.

Earlier, India were reeling at 76/4, having lost Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh off successive deliveries to Johnson when Dhoni joined Kohli in the middle. Australia were breathing fire and the hosts were relying on their two most successful batsmen in ODI cricket to bail them out of trouble.

Despite wickets falling at the other end, Kohli had held his own and was scoring at a-run-ball while Dhoni, who had hurt his ankle, before even facing his first ball, settled down to graft and play himself in. The Indian captain did not attempt a single big shot and was content pushing and nudging the ball in the gaps. When the team slipped to 154/6 in the 32nd over, with Kohli and Jadeja back in the hut, Ashwin walked into the middle and played a cool hand to add 76 runs for the seventh wicket with Dhoni as India edged past 200.

An expectant crowd was waiting for some fireworks as the Indian innings reached the last ten overs. Dhoni accelerated in typical fashion moving from 60 to 139 while India moved from 202/6 to 303/9, a score that had looked improbable 18 overs ago. But aided by some inept Australian bowling barring Johnson, and Bailey's respite to his Indian counterpart in the penultimate over, Dhoni blasted 34 runs off the last 12 balls he faced, setting a daunting target for the Australians.