Yuvraj hits the gas as India win

Third one-day international: India v Australia, Delhi: India 230-4 (48-2 overs) beat Australia 229-5 (50 overs) by six wickets
Match scorecard

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left)congratulates Yuvraj Singh

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) and Yuvraj Singh sealed India's win

Yuvraj Singh hit 78 as India powered to a six-wicket win over Australia in the third one-day international.

Australia won the toss and batted first with Mike Hussey making 81 not out and skipper Ricky Ponting a cautious 59 as opener in a total of 229-5 in Delhi.

India cruised home with 10 balls left to take a 2-1 lead in the seven-game series against injury-hit opponents.

Yuvraj struck eight fours and two sixes, and shared 148 for the fourth wicket with skipper Mahendra Dhoni.

The India skipper continued his fine form, hitting 71 not out after a match-winning 124 in the previous game in Nagpur.

He and Yuvraj coolly rescued the innings from a precarious 53-3 after Virender Sehwag (11), Sachin Tendulkar (32) and Gautam Gambhir (6) had fallen in swift succession.

We needed to take another couple of wickets in the middle of the innings if we were to win the game

Ricky Ponting

Dhoni said afterwards: "We didn't have much to chase and with the dew coming down, with wickets in hand and a powerplay to go, all we had to do was see off their best bowlers and go after the weaker ones.

"I think all our bowlers did well to restrict them to the total that we did, but on a wicket like this it could have been a tricky chase had there been no dew.

"It was a pretty ugly wicket with big patches right in front of you. It wasn't easy to bat on but Yuvraj made it much easier than it was."

Ponting admitted his team - crippled by injuries to Brett Lee, Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes and Tim Paine - had been thoroughly beaten.

"The Indians bat very low in their batting order and we needed to take another couple of wickets in the middle of the innings if we were to win the game.

"But Yuvraj and Dhoni played exceptionally well, it was a tough wicket to bat on and they made it look pretty easy."

Australia must try to recover in time for the fourth match in Mohali on Monday. Much of the battle for them at the moment is finding 11 fit men to take the field.