Mahendra Singh Dhoni led from the front by smashing an unbeaten 139 as India recovered from a poor start to post a massive 303 for nine against Australia in the third cricket one-dayer of the seven-match series, in Mohali on Saturday.

Dhoni rescued India after early jitters as he played a responsible and sensible innings that came off just 121 balls, including 12 fours and five sixes.

The skipper also shared two significant partnerships — putting on a solid 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli (68) before joining hands with Ravichandran Ashwin (28) to put up 76 runs for the seventh wicket.

For Australia, Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with figures of four for 46.

Put in to bat, India did not make an ideal start as openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8), both of whom were instrumental in setting up a great platform for the team’s massive 360 run chase in the previous game, today fell cheaply.

With India two down for 37, the onus was on Suresh Raina and Kohli to bail the hosts out of trouble.

But in the 13th over, Johnson struck back to see off Raina caught at the slip by Shane Watson before dismissing comeback man Yuvraj Singh off his very next delivery for a first-ball duck.

It was heartbreak for the fans of local hero Yuvraj, who edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Raina and Yuvraj’s dismissals in consecutive balls led to the run flow drying up.

Both Kohli and Dhoni also adopted a cautious approach as the duo confined themselves to scoring just in singles and twos. There was no boundary or a six hit for as many as eight overs.

Kohli broke the shackles in the 24th over and slowly but steadily completed his half-century to help the team rebuild.

Although Kohli and Dhoni failed to accelerate the scoring rate, they kept the scoreboard ticking before Glenn Maxwell returned the latter for a patient 68 off 73 balls, laced with nine fours.

Johnson then left the hosts reeling at 154 for six with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket.

With the top and middle-order back in the pavilion, Dhoni showed a lot of character as he played with responsibility. He waited patiently for the loose deliveries to go for the fours and sixes.

Dhoni, mostly picked on James Faulkner and Watson. He began an over of Faulkner with two consecutive fours and then topped it up with a boundary and a six in Watson’s over to release the pressure.

In the able company of Ashwin, he took India beyond the 200-run mark.

He tried to keep the strike so that the lower order had to face lesser number of balls. And almost single-handedly guided the team to a 300-plus total in the end.

Dhoni stole 21 runs in the last over, which was bowled by Faulkner.

He played his trademark helicopter shot to the delight of the packed PCA stadium crowd before hitting another six over the long off and a four to end the over.

Brief Scores:

India: 303 for 9 in 50 overs (Mahendra Singh Dhoni 139 not out, Virat Kohli 68; Mitchell Johnson 4/46).

Earlier, Australia captain George Bailey won the toss and elected to bowl in the third cricket one-dayer against India in Mohali on Saturday.

Both the teams are unchanged for the match. The series is tied 1-1.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Buvneshwar Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Ishant Sharma

Australia: George Bailey (c),Aaron Finch, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Adam Voges, Glenn Maxwell, Brad Haddin, James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty.