The skipper lauded the performance of his bowlers, who restricted Australia to 164 for six after the home team was 68 for one in 8.3 overs, and his batsmen alike.
After back-to-back losses against Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiant, Sunrisers eked out a seven-wicket win over table-toppers Mumbai Indians at Hyderabad and David Warner's men need another inspiring show.
Carrara Oval's debut as an international venue looked under threat when a violent storm brought torrential rain to the Queensland coast early in the evening.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan admitted that India were completely outplayed by Australia and that it was the middle-order collapse that triggered the loss in the opening ODI at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Chasing 135 to win, Gujarat lost both openers - Ishan Kishan (16) and Brendon McCullum (3) -- to be reduced to 23-2 but Finch blasted 5 fours and 6 sixes in his scintillating 34-ball 72-run innings as the visitors romped home with 6.1 overs to spare.
ending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised into the Indian Premier League play-offs with an easy eight-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be aiming for revival when they clash against out-of-sorts Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League match.
High on confidence after one of their splendid run-chases across 10 editions, Mumbai Indians will like to continue their winning momentum against a resurgent Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Their campaign back on track after drubbing Bangladesh in their previous game, Australia cannot afford slip-up against an unpredictable West Indies in their final Super 12 match as they look to seal a semi-final spot in the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
The visitors will have to play out of their skins to arrest the slide and level the series ahead of the last T20I in Hyderabad on October 13.
The Suresh Raina-led side suffered consecutive defeats against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders and title holder Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening two matches.
The Indian team management are 'not confused' about the composition of the World Cup squad despite their ODI series defeat against Australia as only one slot is up for grabs, said skipper Virat Kohli.
Royal Challenger Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli said his team needs to play positive cricket to come out of their losing streak after they suffered yet another defeat in Indian Premier League on Thursday.
Australia rode on a dominating all-round display to thrash a lacklustre India by 72 runs in the first cricket One-dayer in Pune.
Virat Kohli's tourists are the second ranked ODI side in the world and will be looking to get into their groove in the three 50-over and three Twenty20 matches that precede the four-match Test series around the new year.
'I just had so much clarity of what (Finch) expected of me in that role'
'To be able to then just work through it, and you could see there definitely was a shift after the second game just from his own performance, you'd see there's a little bit of extra intensity in him after that.'
IMAGES: Mumbai Indians versus Kings XI Punjab, Wankhede Stadium, May 16, 2018.
Holding the team's batting failure responsible for the 37-run defeat to India in the first Twenty20 International, Australian batsman David Warner on Wednesday said the hosts need to bat smartly against the Indian spinners and take full advantage of the big stadiums Down Under.
RCB, led by their captain Virat Kohli, has always been a team full of stars but has not played to its potential. After reaching the final in 2016, it has had three forgettable seasons.
Punjab are lying at the bottom of the table with only one win from six matches, while the in-form Lions are the top of the IPL standings with six wins from seven matches.
Images from the T20 World Cup semi-final between Pakistan and Australia, in Dubai, on Thursday.
Smith was removed from captaincy due to his involvement in the scandal in 2018
Having gone down swinging in an enthralling Adelaide Test, Australia barely have time to pick themselves up off the canvas before another potentially bruising contest against a confident India in Perth.
Australia defeated New Zealand by eight wickets to win their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title on Sunday.
While the return of pace spearhead Anrich Nortje, who had been nursing an injury, bolstered the bowling unit, the South African, who hasn't bowled since the T20 World Cup in November, looked understandably rusty.
Ahead of the high-octane clash, here are some key players to look out for:
In-form Indian opener Rohit Sharma broke back into the top-five at fifth, while skipper Virat Kohli held on to the numero uno position in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI rankings, issued on Monday.
"All the players have played there before (and) played IPL (Indian Premier League) there. Whatever team is selected, that will be the right team for those conditions and I really do think this could be one of our best chances to win the Twenty20 World Cup.
'...our bowlers were not quite there.'
The ever-consistent Steve Smith continued his rich vein of form,scoring an unbeaten 79 in Rajasthan Royals' easy seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians, in the IPL match in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night, and immediately declared he "never gets tired of batting".
The World Cup is just a couple of months away, and even after even a 0-2 loss in the just-concluded T20 series there won't be any shift in plans as far as skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri are concerned.
A series win in Australia will certainly put Kohli on a higher pedestal even though the quality of the home team's batting line-up suffered adversely due to the bans of former skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner.
David Warner's career-best 178 and Glenn Maxwell's 88-run blitz powered Australia to a record World Cup total of 417 for six wickets and 275 runs victory over lowly Afghanistan in a Pool A match at the Gabba, in Perth, on Wednesday.
Scroll down to see the list of other awardees and cricketers who glamed up the night in their sartorial best.
According to the report, Cricket Australia will determine whether Smith can return to captaincy at its next meeting.
Delhi Daredevils would look to continue the new-found momentum against a struggling Gujarat Lions in New Delhi on Thursday.
There have been close to 10 occasions during the ongoing World Cup when the ball has hit the stumps but bails haven't come off.
Finch and Khawaja put on 209, a record opening stand for Australia while chasing in ODIs, bettering Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist's 206 against West Indies in 2001.
Gujarat Lions opening batsman Dwayne Smith says they would have faced no difficulty even chasing down a 200-plus target since the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack lacks teeth.
