AUSTRALIA crashed to a Twenty20 series loss to India last night, when skipper Aaron Finch appeared to tweak his hamstring in a 27-run defeat.
Finch hobbled off the MCG after being run out on 74, adding yet another issue to Australia's list of T20 World Cup worries. The 29-year-old, who underwent hamstring surgery in 2015, was furious after pulling up lame and short of his ground in the 16th over.
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had rocketed India to 3/184 after it was asked to bat first by Finch. Australia made six changes to its XI but this year's World Cup hosts continued to pummel an understrength attack. 
It set a new venue record, surpassing the 9/182 that Australia managed when David Warner debuted in 2009.
Finch and Shaun Marsh shared a 94-run opening stand to give their side hope before a game-changing collapse of 3/7.
It means tomorrow's SCG series finale will be a dead rubber, with India having enjoyed a 37-run win in Adelaide.
Finch was reprieved on 62, 64 and 67 - including a sitter that somehow slipped through Dhawan's hands in the deep.
MS Dhoni simply had too many runs to play with, Australia finishing on 8/157, much to the delight of the many Indian fans in a vocal crowd of 58,787.
Bowling looms as Australia's biggest concern at the T20 World Cup, which starts in seven weeks.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile headline the Australian pacemen on the sidelines. It showed in Melbourne.
Dhawan and Sharma managed 12 runs from the opening three overs but added 32 in the next two, attacking John Hastings and James Faulkner with great success.
Nathan Lyon, on T20 debut after being called up in place of leg-spinner Cameron Boyce, also copped some treatment in the 97-run opening stand.
Lyon's first over went for 15 runs, with the lowlight a high full-toss that was no-balled.
TWENTY20 AUSTRALIA V INDIA AT THE MCG INDIA R.SHARMA run out (Maxwell) 60 (47) S.DHAWAN c Lynn b Maxwell 42 (32) KOHLI not out ................... 59 (33) DHONI c Watson b Tye ...... 14 (9) RAINA not out ..................... 0 (0) Sundries (7lb, 1w, 1nb) .... 9 TOTAL (for three wickets) 184 Fall: 97, 143, 181.
Bowling: Watson 3-0-17-0, Hastings 3-0-35-0, Boland 4-0-30-0, Faulkner 3-0-35-0, Tye 4-0-28-1, Lyon 1-0-15-0, Maxwell 2-0-17-1.
Inn time: 91 mins. Overs: 20.
AUSTRALIA FINCH run out (Jadeja) ..... 74 (48) S.MARSH c Pandya b Ashwin 23 (23) LYNN c Dhoni b Pandya ........... 2 (4) MAXWELL st Dhoni b Singh .... 1 (2) WATSON c and b Jadeja ....... 15 (11) WADE not out ........................ 16 (15) FAULKNER st Dhoni b Jadeja 10 (7) HASTINGS b Bumrah ............. 4 (6) TYE b Bumrah ........................ 4 (4) Sundries (1b, 2lb, 5w) ....... 8 TOTAL (for eight wickets) 157 Fall: 94, 99, 101, 121, 124, 137, 152, 157.
Bowling: Nehra 4-0-34-0, Bumrah 4-0-37-2, Jadeja 4-0-32-2, Ashwin 4-0-27-1, Pandya 2-0-17-1, Y. Singh 2-0-7-1.
Overs: 20.India won by 27 runs.