Sydney [Australia], October 25 (ANI): Australian captain Mitchell Marsh has hailed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for their unbeaten 168-run partnership and said that the hosts needed a partnership towards the back end and could not capitalise on a good platform, having been only three wickets down for 183 runs.

Pacer Harshit Rana (4/39) gave a critic-silencing performance with assists from spinners as Aussies tumbled from 183/3 to 236 all out.

During the run-chase, Indian batting superstars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, on their likely last tour to Australia, had a memorable partnership with the 'Hitman' scoring a century and Virat scoring a return-to-form fifty after two successive ducks.

'We have seen Rohit and Virat do that over 10 years against lots of teams. We needed one more stand in the back-end of our first innings. Had a great platform (at 183/3), could not cash in. India was too good with the bat. We can be proud of winning the series after two games,' Marsh said during the post-match presentation.

Coming to the match, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. A 61-run stand between skipper Mitchell Marsh (41 in 50 balls, with five fours and a six) and Travis Head (29 in 25 balls, with six fours) started off things for Australia.

Matt Short contributed a knock of 30 in 41 balls, with two fours, and a 59-run stand between Matt Renshaw (56 in 58 balls, with two fours) and Alex Carey (24 in 37 balls, with a four) took the Aussies to 183/3. But from there, Aussies collapsed to 236 all out in 46.4 overs, with Harshit Rana (4/39 in 8.4 overs), Washington Sundar (2/44) being the pick of the bowlers and Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav getting one each.

In the 237 run-chase, India was off to a solid start with a 69-run opening stand between Shubman Gill (24 in 26 balls, with two fours and a six). From there, something happened that fans had waited for all series, as Rohit Sharma (121* in 125 balls, with 13 fours and three sixes) and Virat Kohli (74* in 81 balls, with seven fours) put on an unbeaten 168-run partnership and achieved several milestones, winning the match with nine wickets still in hand.

Rohit won the 'Player of the Match' award and the 'Player of the Series' award as well for top-scoring in the series with 202 runs, including a century and a fifty each. (ANI)