India tasted success for the first time on the 2020/21 tour of Australia, after sealing a 13-run win at Canberra in the third ODI on Wednesday (December 2). Australia had already won the series by winning the first two games in Sydney, so this game was not as important for them, but for the visitors not just their pride but lot more was also at stake.

India had lost five consecutive ODIs before today, and faced the prospect of a second successive cleansweep defeat after losing 0-3 to New Zealand in February. Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first, while making four changes to the playing XI. Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini made way for Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav and debutant T Natarajan.

India's top order except Kohli himself, did not perform too well as wickets kept falling around the captain with Australian bowlers giving little away.

Kohli became only the second Indian and sixth batsman overall to score 12,000 ODI runs enroute his 60th ODI half-century, also becoming the fastest batsman to reach the milestone, breaking the record of Sachin Tendulkar. Just when it seemed he might end the wait for his 44th ODI century, he was dismissed for 63 by Josh Hazlewood.

At 152/5, India were in deep trouble with only the bowlers left to bat after Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, but the all-rounders batted brilliantly and added a unbeaten 150-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take India to 302/5 which was more than competitive total on a pitch that had something for the bowlers. Hardik scored 92* while Jadeja made 66*, as the duo broke the record for the highest-ever sixth wicket partnership for India in ODIs.

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In reply, Australia were bowled out for 289 in the final over, despite half-centuries from Aaron Finch (75) and Glenn Maxwell (59). Shardul Thakur took three wickets, while Jasprit Bumrah and T Natarajan took two wickets each as India finally ended their losing streak in ODIs with an important win in context of the T20Is to follow.

Team India members took to Twitter shortly afterwards and celebrated their win with the fans who stand by the team irrespective of their results. Here are the tweets: