Riding Glenn Maxwell's 43-ball 56, Australia ultimately scraped past the line in the final over to beat India by three wickets in the first T-20 on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Put in to bat, India, with five overs go to, were 100/6 and it was all on Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29 not out) to stage a grandstand finish.
But the veteran failed to deliver and could manage to hit only one six in the final over, refusing to take a single on several occasions with Yuzvendra Chahal (0) at the other end. India managed only 46 runs in the last 10 overs.
Dhoni's strike rate, particularly in this match has been debated a lot as a few extra runs might have come handy or might have possibly made a difference in the final outcome of the game. Also, adding some fuel to the fire was Dhoni’s 29 not out off 37 deliveries knock as Australia, set to make 127 for victory, scored 2 runs of the last delivery.
Meanwhile, star performers in the match - Glenn Maxwell, had some words of support for the former India captain.
"It [farming the strike] was probably fair enough with the way the wicket was - being difficult to score for any batter, let alone a guy who is not known for his power-hitting in Chahal," Maxwell said. "MS is obviously a world-class finisher and even he was finding it hard to hit the middle of the bat.
"So, I think it was right of him to try and farm the strike. He hit a six in the last over and I think that's the sign - he hit one six and they only got seven of the over. Shows you how difficult it is. If you hold MS to one boundary in the last few overs, it's a pretty big effort," Maxwell added.
Brief scores: India: 126/7 (Lokesh Rahul 50, M.S. Dhoni 29 not out; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/26); Australia 127/7 (Glenn Maxwell 56; Jasprit Bumrah 3/16)