AUSTRALIA V INDIA, 3RD TEST "5TH DAY"

"Australia run out of time, but win series"

3rd Test: " India hold nerve to draw MCG Test against Australia"

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin frustrated Australia's push for victory on day five of the third test in Melbourne on Tuesday, but the draw was enough for the hosts to complete an emphatic 2-0 series win with a game in hand.

Full Score Card

Joining Dhoni at the wicket, No 8 batsman Ashwin was nearly caught behind on one by Shane Watson who dived across from first slip but put down a sharp one-handed chance.

Both batsmen survived a number of false shots but showed grit to play out the remaining overs.

Australia may ponder the wisdom of their relatively late declaration, having already constructed a lead of 326 runs by stumps on day four, but were in no mood to hurry proceedings with only a draw needed to make the Sydney test starting on January 6 a dead rubber.

””” Brief Scores ”””

Australia 530 (Chris Rogers 57, Shane Watson 52, Steven Smith 192, Ryan Harris 74, Brad Haddin 55; Umesh Yadav 3 for 130, Mohammed Shami 4 for 138, Ravichandran Ashwin 3 for 134) and 318 for 9 decl. (David Warner 40, Chris Rogers 69, Shaun Marsh 99; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 75, Mohammed Shami 2 for 92, Ishant Sharma 2 for 49, Umesh Yadav 2 for 89) drew with India 465 (Murali Vijay 68, Virat Kohli 169, Ajinkya Rahane 147; Ryan Harris 4 for 70, Mitchell Johnson 3 for 135, Nathan Lyon 2 for 108) and 174 for 6 (Virat Kohli 54, Ajinkya Rahane 48; Ryan Harris 2 for 30, Mitchell Johnson 2 for 38, Josh Hazlewood 2 for 40).