It was sweet revenge for India as they clinched the ODI series against England by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead after a comprehensive five-wicket victory in the third one-dayer in Mohali on Thursday.

- Scorecard

After England scored a competitive 298 for four, the home side rode on Ajinkya Rahane's 91 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's calculated onslaught to overhaul the target of 299, with four balls to spare.

Dhoni (35 not out off 31) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 not out off 24) added 65 runs in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand to take the team to victory at the PCA stadium. 

India needed seven runs to win from the last over, bowled by Tim Bresnan, and Dhoni hit two consecutive fours off the first two deliveries to take his side to 300 for five and signal victory.

England did not have the best of starts after electing to bat as they lost captain Alastair Cook as early as the fourth over, with the scoreboard reading eight. 

Cook was out lbw to a R Vinay Kumar delivery that jabbed in after pitching. 

Handed a difficult lifeline by Praveen Kumar off his own bowling in the ninth over, Craig Kieswetter broke the shackles, hitting the pacer over the deep midwicket fence to bring up England's first six of the innings. 

Kieswetter meted out the same treat to Vinay in the next over, but this time with a slash over the third man boundary.

Virat Kohli, bought into the attack in the 11th over, replacing Praveen, broke the 53-run second wicket partnership, dismissing the dangerous Kieswetter, who played on a full delivery onto the stumps.

Kevin Pietersen gave momentum to the England innings and with Trott put up a century stand. 

After initial calm, he and Trott milked the Indian bowlers with ones and twos with boundaries in between to lay the platform for the visitors. Pietersen was at his fluent best and struck Jadeja for two boundaries in the 25th over to race to his half-century in just 48 balls. 

But soon after bringing up the 100-run partnership for the third wicket off just 98 balls, the dangerous-looking Pietersen departed a run later, lbw to Jadeja after scoring a fluent 64 off 61 balls, during which he hit nine boundaries. 

Dhoni's decision to bring in Jadeja, in place of R Ashwin, from the other end bore fruit as he scalped the vital wicket of Pietersen with the first delivery. The decision however did not impress the right-handed batsman.

Dhoni's decision to replace Vinay Kumar with Praveen in the 39th over yielded yet another wicket for India. 

Praveen uprooted Ravi Bopara's (24 off 32) middle stump with a swinging yorker, as the batsman failed to dig it out and ended up playing on.

Bopara hit three fours during his stay and added 41 runs with Trott for the fourth wicket that came off 54 balls.

Jonathan Trott scored a majestic unbeaten 98 and stitched two crucial partnerships with Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel to guide England to a challenging 298 for four. 

He anchored the England innings during his 116-ball unconquered knock that comprised eight hits to the fence.

Trott crafted his innings beautifully, playing cautiously initially when Pietersen was going great guns, but opened up later on in Patel's company.

Samit Patel scored a brisk 70 not out and added 103 runs in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand with Trott.

Trott and Patel took the task to the opposition and sent the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt to pile up a huge 91 runs in the last 10 overs. 

Patel was the more aggressive of the two as he did not spare a single Indian bowler en route to his quickfire half-century that came off just 43 balls, studded with seven boundaries and two huge hits over the fence.

Patel hit the last ball of the England innings for a majestic six.

Ajinkya Rahane stole the limelight with a brilliant 104-ball 91 to help India chase down the target.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was all praise for his top-order batsman.

"I think it was a very good performance. The middle-order did not bat so well, but the upper middle order did the job for us. The openers batted really well. Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir set the platform with their partnership," said Dhoni after the match. 

"The way Rahane batted along with Gambhir in the middle after the start was crucial. We lost wickets at the wrong time though, and we had to get another partnership going. They batted really well," he added.

Gautam Gambhir gave perfect support to Rahane with a 60-ball 59.

The duo put on 111 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for India's triumph.

Dhoni (35 not out off 31) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 not out off 24) added 65 runs for the unseparated sixth-wicket stand.