Finch fell cheaply to swing king Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a third straight time as the hosts, sent in to bat by Virat Kohli, slumped to 2-27 in Friday's series decider.

Australia's ODI skipper had hoped to maintain his impressive record at the MCG, where he had scored three centuries and averaged almost 50.

But the Victorian was unable to find form on home soil, trapped lbw by a Bhuvneshwar inswinger on 14 to the delight of a crowd dominated by India fans.

It capped a rotten summer for Finch, whose batting form slump extended across all three formats and led to his Test axing.

The 32-year-old managed 242 runs at 15.12 from 16 international innings.

"At the moment he's really searching for form and his footwork's all over the place," said former Test batsman Mark Waugh on Fox Cricket.

"He's trying to get forward but his balance doesn't even look right when he's trying to do that."

Bhuvneshwar's previous delivery - unusually sent down from behind where the umpire was standing - was called a dead ball after Finch pulled away at the last minute.

Opening partner Alex Carey also fell to Bhuvneshwar, nicking to Kohli at second slip in the third over to finish the series with scores of 24, 18 and five.

Australia have used four different ODI opening partnerships during the suspension of David Warner, who appears certain to regain his spot for the World Cup.

Chris Lynn, Travis Head and D'Arcy Short have also played at the top of the order but all were dumped for the series against India.

Australian Associated Press