A Virat Kohli masterclass followed by MS Dhoni’s classic finish enabled India to a series-levelling win over Australia in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat first again as Australia fielded the same eleven from Sydney. India gave Mohammed Siraj his debut cap with Khaleel Ahmed sitting out.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar added to Finch’s misery when he castled him with an inswinger early in the innings. In the next over, Alex Carey was bounced out by Mohammed Shami.

Australia’s resurrection act began with Khawaja and Shaun Marsh stitching a partnership. Marsh had come out with a clear intent to score runs. He was targeting India’s spinners and Mohammed Siraj in particular.

Khawaja, who had gotten off to a relatively quicker start, saw himself run-out on 21 thanks to a superlative effort from Ravindra Jadeja at point. Jadeja sprinted towards the ball and picked it up from his throwing hand, releasing it in motion with some force to curtail Khawaja’s progress.

Peter Handscomb supported Shaun Marsh who was manoeuvring spin well. He utilised the shorter boundary well during his stay and knew where the gaps were.

Handscomb had his eyes set but MS Dhoni, from behind the stumps, got rid of him with a clean stumping off Jadeja. Marcus Stoinis came in, took his time to settle but gave Marsh ample support to build on.

He hit two lusty blows to the fence but perished on the third ball, under-edging Shami to Dhoni behind the stumps. Glenn Maxwell, walking in at number seven, made all the difference. He was picking his spots and finding boundaries at ease.

He alongwith Shaun Marsh added 94 crucial runs in just 56 balls to push Australia towards a massive total. Marsh in the meanwhile scored his third ton in six innings proving his potential in white-ball cricket.

But once Australia lost Stoinis, Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck twice to reduce the hosts to 286/9 from a strong looking 283/5. Lyon’s muscle meant that Australia finished with 298 on the board.

Chasing 299, India got off to a steady start with Shikhar Dhawan playing the aggressor’s role. He found his groove after being watchful initially and was looking set for more but Jason Behrendorff accounted for him on 32. Dhawan tried to smash him over covers but ended up skying it to Usman Khawaja.

Rohit Sharma took the run-scoring baton from his hands and was doing the right things. He rotated strike with Virat Kohli, allowing him the time to settle. Rohit played an exquisite pull-shot to Siddle continuing in the same vein but his 43-run knock was cut-short when he mistimed Stoinis to Handscomb in the deep.

Virat Kohli knew scoring was going to be an issue for a new batsman so he gave Rayudu ample time to settle in. Kohli got to his fifty but was well aware that the job was half-done. While India lost Rayudu to Maxwell, it didn’t hinder the momentum.

MS Dhoni played second fiddle to Virat Kohli who upped the ante from there on. He targeted Behrendorff and Lyon, in particular, to pace the chase as well.

Kohli completed his 24th ton in a chase but got out soon with India still needing 57 runs from the remaining 6.2 overs. MS Dhoni took charge from there and was happy to take the calculated risk. He again smashed Nathan Lyon for six and let Dinesh Karthik take over.

Karthik’s crucial unbeaten 14-ball 25 run knock came at a vital stage to see India through in the company of MS Dhoni who hit a six in the last over sending the Adelaide crowd in raptures. MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 55* off 54 balls doing his own confidence a world of good ahead of the series decider in MCG.

Both teams will meet in Melbourne for the third and final game on January 18.