Australia held on for a thrilling 12-run victory in a dead-rubber final T20-international against India Tuesday despite an imperious knock of 85 from Virat Kohli.
Once the Indian skipper was out 11 balls from the finish, his team's hopes diminished and they failed to sweep the series after wins in the opening two games.
Matthew Wade hit his highest T20 score of 80, while an eventful Glenn Maxwell half-century lifted Australia to 186 for five after India won the toss.
India were 174 for seven in reply.
Maxwell survived two reviews, was caught off a no-ball, and had a six prevented by the athletic Sanju Samson fielding over the rope before finishing with 54 off 36 balls.
Scoreboard in the third T20 international between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday:
Australia
M. Wade lbw b Thakur 80
A. Finch c Pandya b Sundar 0
S. Smith b Sundar 22
G. Maxwell b Natarajan 54
M. Henriques not out 5
D. Short run out (Kohli/Rahul) 6
D. Sams not out 4
Extras (lb1, nb1, w10) 12
Total (for 5 wickets; 20 overs) 186
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Finch), 2-79 (Smith), 3-169 (Wade), 4-175 (Maxwell), 5-182 (Short)
Did not bat: S. Abbott, M. Swepson, A. Tye, A. Zampa
Bowling: Chahar 4-0-34-0 (1nb), Sundar 4-0-34-2 (1nb), Natarajan 4-0-33-1 (2nb), Chahal 4-0-41-0 (2w 1nb), Thakur 4-0-43-1
India
K.L. Rahul c Smith b Maxwell 0
S. Dhawan c Sams b Swepson 28
V. Kohli c Sams b Tye 85
S. Samson c Smith b Swepson 10
S. Iyer lbw b Swepson 0
H. Pandya c Finch b Zampa 20
W. Sundar c Tye b Abbott 7
S. Thakur not out 17
D. Chahar not out 0
Extras (b1, w6) 7
Total (for 7 wickets, 20 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Rahul), 2-74 (Dhawan), 3-97 (Samson), 4-100 (Iyer), 5-144 (Pandya), 6-151 (Kohli), 7-164 (Sundar)
Did not bat: Y. Chahal, T. Natarajan
Bowling: Maxwell 3-0-20-1 (1w), Abbott 4-0-49-1 (1w), Sams 2-0-29-0 (1w), Tye 4-0-31-1 (1w), Swepson 4-0-23-3, Zampa 3-0-21-1
Result: Australia won by 12 runs
Series: India 2-1
Toss: India
Umpires: Gerard Abood (AUS) Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV umpire: Paul Wilson (AUS)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)