In Australia’s 199-run total after winning the toss and batting, Steve Smith (46) and David Warner (41) scored the most runs.

Kohli and KL Rahul rebuilt India’s innings after early wicket losses left them on 2-3.

Kohli was caught at midwicket by Josh Hazlewood (3-38) but Rahul (97 not out) led India home. On Saturday, South Africa shattered batting records in the World Cup by making 428-5 against Sri Lanka, but this match was a throwback to subcontinental one-day internationals.

Chennai’s pitch didn’t lend itself to expansive hitting down the ground, or innovative 360-degree strokeplay, and inevitably became a low-scoring arm wrestle, bucking the trend of modern white-ball matches.

There were just three sixes in India’s innings, and two in Australia’s.

Despite Warner’s fluency and Smith’s resilience, India’s spinners strangled their opponents in the middle overs.

Six of Australia’s top seven wickets came from spin – spearheaded by left-arm tweaker Ravindra Jadeja’s 3-28 – paving the way for their quicks.

The average score in the 10 ODIs played at M. Chidambaram Stadium since 2011 was 238 so Australia’s score felt comfortable. India’s response was jittery as Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer all fell without scoring to Mitchell Starc’s (1-31) and Hazlewood’s fine bowling.

Once the white ball stopped swinging and the shine went off it, Australia’s attack looked unthreatening with Cummins unable to come up with a wicket-taking strategy.