Yuzvendra Chahal’s career best figures (6/42) and a calculated finish from MS Dhoni (87*) gave India their first bilateral series win on the Australian soil on Friday.

India made three changes to the side that won at Adelaide. Yuzvendra Chahal came in for Kuldeep Yadav, Ambati Rayudu made way for Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar got his first cap in place of Mohammed Siraj.

Australia brought Adam Zampa in for Nathan Lyon and Billy Stanlake replaced an injured Jason Behrendorff. After a slight rain delay at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to field first owing to the overcast conditions that would go on to aid seam bowling.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar responded in style when he had Aaron Finch trapped plumb in front — getting the better of him for the third consecutive time in this series. Alex Carey got a ball to rise from a good length and ended up edging it to the man at first slip.

After the end of the powerplay, Australia were down to 30/2 when Virat Kohli very smartly deployed Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar from both ends. They filled up for India’s fifth bowler and conceded just 28 runs from their first 8 overs combined pushing the pressure on Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja.

India persisted with Jadhav from one end and brought Jadeja from the other when Marsh got into his groove. Jadhav, despite taking a beating, was bowling well to contain Australia’s number three and number four.

Australia were sitting pretty with 99 on the board when Yuzvendra Chahal turned the game on its head. Chahal got Marsh stumped down the leg, Khawaja caught and bowled within the span of four deliveries to push the hosts on the backfoot.

He further bowled a ripper to Stoinis who ended up nicking Chahal to a diving Rohit Sharma at first-slip. Australia had a big rebuilding task on hand and Peter Handscomb was in the mood to dig deep.

He got the support of Maxwell who was unfazed by the situation. As Handscomb kept rotating the strike, Maxwell hit five fours to make Virat Kohli think again. Kohli brought Shami back with a clear intent to bounce out Maxwell.

The dashing number seven fell for the trap when he was caught through a stunner by Bhuvneshwar Kumar down at fine-leg. Australia were now kept reeling at 161/7.

Jhye Richardson and Adam Zampa resisted for 37 balls between them when Yuzvendra Chahal returned to account for the duo.

Handscomb struck a half-century, pushing Australia close to 220 but Chahal trapped him as well in the process. Mohammed Shami cleaned up Billy Stanlake as Australia were bowled out for 230.

Chasing 231, India lost Rohit Sharma early for four when he nicked Peter Siddle to the first slip. When Kohli walked out to bat, India were placed at 15/1 after six overs.

Kohli and Dhawan stitched a 44-run stand for the second wicket before the latter was out caught and bowled off Stoinis. India brought MS Dhoni at number four with the former skipper bringing form and experience into play not before he was dropped on nought by Maxwell.

The duo – widely regarded as the best runners between the wickets were not at their absolute best. Kohli and MS survived a few close calls but kept the scoreboard ticking.

Kohli had paced his innings beautifully, setting up another chase when Jhye Richardson got him nicking one to the keeper on 46. This was the third time Richardson had got the better of the Indian skipper in the series.

India were 113 for three after 30 overs when Jadhav and MS combined to steer India close. Dhoni knew he needed that odd boundary to balance the scoreboard pressure and was getting it – sometimes with relative ease and sometimes with sheer luck as Jadhav settled in from the other end.

Jadhav’s lap shots didn’t pay off but he was able to find the fence regularly. MS Dhoni got to his third successive fifty of the series and was looking good for more as India inched closer towards the target.

When he was on 74, skipper Aaron Finch dropped him again but the damage was already done. Jadhav too completed his fifty as India won the game with 6 wickets in hand.

The Men in Blue will travel to New Zealand next for a five-match ODI and three-match T20I series starting January 23.