Arundhati Reddy during practice. Photo: X/@BCCIWOMEN.

Shubman Gill plays a shot during the third One-Day International (ODI) cricket match between India and Australia, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Shubman Gill will be looking to turn the tables with a big knock after what has been an underwhelming tour when a confident India aim to go one up against a depleted Australia in the fourth T20 International in Carrara on Thursday (November 6, 2025).

The series is locked at 1-1 after three games and the absence of Josh Hazlewood in the previous game did make a difference to Australia’s defence of a standard total of 186.

Going into the fourth game, there won’t be any Travis Head for Australia as the opener is set to play Sheffield Shield to prepare for the Ashes.

With two pillars of the rival team unavailable, this is the best chance for India to go 2-1 up before the final game at the Gabba and wrap up a series win.

In the last game, India finally did look to get their combination right within their ambit of having an all-rounder at No. 8.

However, what will slightly bother the Indian team management is skipper Shubman Gill’s form in the series as he has now played six games without a half-century.

The sequence of scores since the start of the ODI series reads 10, 9, 24, 37 not out, 5, and 15. The only time he looked in good nick was at Canberra when he stitched a nice little stand with skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Gill has been troubled by fuller deliveries with a hint of movement and throughout the better part, he hasn’t exactly looked in the regal touch which has made him the player that he is.

At the other end, Abhishek Sharma has done his reputation no harm as the world’s No. 1 T20 batter with a fine half-century and two quick starts in the series.

However Gill, who will have to switch on to the red ball mode in a week’s time, will certainly get a lot of confidence if he gets some runs irrespective of the format he is playing.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav has shown some glimpses of his vintage self in the first and third matches with two good starts.

But he would also like to get some runs under the belt now that there will be a month-long break before the next series against South Africa.

In between, one would expect Suryakumar to play Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy game against Puducherry.

The bowling department, with the inclusion of Arshdeep Singh, looks way more compact even as Kuldeep Yadav has been sent back to prepare for the Test series against the Proteas.

The team management’s main issue has always been that both Kuldeep and Arshdeep can’t be played together.

If Kuldeep plays in these conditions, then Harshit Rana, with better batting skills, needs to be fitted in.

When Arshdeep plays, they have to somehow get a Washington Sundar inducted and one saw the result as his 23-ball 49 decisively swung the third game in favour of India.

The Australian side will depend a lot on skipper Mitchell Marsh and Tim David for the firepower in batting. With no Head in the line-up, Marsh might have Matthew Short as his opening partner.

However, it is the bowling department where Australia need to do some rejigging as Sean Abbott certainly didn’t look the part and one among Ben Dwarshuis or Mahli Beardman might just come in his place.

Teams (from):

India: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (captain), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis (wk), Josh Phillippe (wk), Mitchell Owen, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Kuhnemann, Adam Zampa, Mahli Beardman, Benn Dwarshuis,Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Marcus Stoinis.

Match Starts at 1:45 p.m.

Published – November 06, 2025 03:13 am IST

India’s Virat Kohli walks off after being dismissed by Australia’s Mitchell Starc during the one day international cricket match between Australia and India in Perth Australia, on October 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

India’s Jemimah Rodrigues and Pratika Rawal during a practice session at the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: K.R. DEEPAK

File picture of former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who lavished praise on Jasprit Bumrah’s performance during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series
| Photo Credit: ANI

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh believes that if star bowler Jasprit Bumrah had not taken part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), India would have suffered a 5-0 series defeat instead of a 3-1 humbling by Australia.

In 45 days of riveting cricket, Bumrah led India’s fight against the WTC champions, picking crucial Australian wickets across the five matches.

He was the mastermind behind India’s record-shattering 295-run victory in the series opener in Perth. He ended the series as the leading wicket-taker and was awarded the player of the series. Despite India’s series loss, Bumrah garnered much praise and even Travis Head admitted that it was the best “individual performance” that he had seen since he started playing the format.

Harbhajan praised Bumrah and said that if the “national treasure” wasn’t a part of the team, India would have lost the BGT by 5-0 or 4-0 in favour of Australia.

“If Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t in this tour, the series would have ended 5-0. Jassi saved India in Perth. After Adelaide, he saved India in the rest of the matches. If he wasn’t in the series, India would have lost by either 5-0 or 4-0,” Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.

He ended the five-match BGT series with 32 wickets, making him India’s highest wicket-taker in a Test series against the Baggy Greens on Australian soil.

Bumah arrived at his tally at an exceptional average of 12.64, including three five-wicket hauls, with a best of 6/76. In doing so, he surpassed Bishan Singh Bedi’s record of 31 wickets from the 1977-78 tour of Australia.

Indias captain Jasprit Bumrah stretches before the start of day three of the fifth cricket test match between Australia and India at The SCG in Sydney on January 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Battling a back spasm, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was not fit enough to bowl on day three after the visitors set Australia a 162-run target.

India were bowled out for 157 in 39.5 overs, adding only 16 runs to their overnight total with the loss of four wickets.

Bumrah, who had suffered the injury on day two, is set to end as the leading wicket taker in the series with 32 scalps.

He was away from the field for three hours and 20 minutes on Saturday.

With he not there to open the bowling on Sunday, Indian pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna was all over the place leaking 35 runs in the first three overs.

Krishna had revealed Bumrah’s back issue after stumps on day two.

Bumrah had suffered a lower back injury that kept him out of cricket for nearly one year between 2022 and 2023. He had undergone a back surgery in March 2023.

India’s Jasprit Bumrah reacts as he is out bowled during play on the third day of the fifth cricket test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

India were all out for 157 in the second innings, leaving Australia a victory target of 162 in the fifth and final Test here on Sunday.

Resuming day three at 141 for six, India lost their remaining four wickets for 16 runs.

Pat Cummins and Scott Boland shared the wickets in the session. Boland took six for 45 for the home side to claim a 10-wicket match haul, while Rishabh Pant’s 61 was the high score for India.

Brief Score:

India 1st innings: 185

Australia 1st innings: 181

India 2nd innings: 157 allout in 39.5 overs (Rishabh Pant 61, Scott Boland 6/45).

Senior India batter Rohit Sharma on Saturday (January 4, 2025) firmly dismissed his retirement rumours, saying he is “not going anywhere” and offered poor form as the reason for him “standing down” from the ongoing Sydney Test against Australia.

Grappling with modest form, Rohit “opted to rest” from the Sydney Test, handing over the leadership duties to Jasprit Bumrah, sparking widespread speculations about his future.

“I have not retired. I stood down, that is what I would say. Basically the chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple. I am not able to score runs, there is no form, it is an important match and we need a player with form,” Rohit told Star Sports.

“As it is, in our batting, the form of the boys is not that good. So you cannot carry a lot of out of form players in the team. This simple thing was going on in my mind. I am not going anywhere,” he added.

The 37-year-old said the team management and selectors backed his decision.

“I wanted to tell the coach and the selector that this is what is going on in my mind. They backed my decision. They said that you have been playing for so many years. You know what you are doing.

“So for me, it was difficult to take this decision. But if everything is kept in front, then this decision was sensible. I will not think much further,” he added.

In Rohit’s absence, Shubman Gill was included in the India eleven for the crucial fifth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India is trailing 1-2.

The Mumbaikar endured a tough time in Test cricket in 2024, accumulating just 619 runs in 26 innings across 14 matches averaging 24.76.

Before standing down, he had scored just 31 runs across five innings in three Tests in this series after joining the team following the Perth Test.

Rohit’s bold call triggered speculations that he might pull the plug on his Test career after this series.

“This is not a retirement decision. I am not going to leave the game. There is no such decision. But I am out of this game because the bat is not working.

“But there is no guarantee that the bat will not work after 5 months. There is no guarantee that the bat will not work after two months or six months down the line,” Rohit said.

He hoped for a turnaround in his fortunes sooner than later.

“We have seen a lot in cricket. Every minute, every second, every day life changes. So, I have a belief that things will change.

“But, at the same time, I have to be realistic as well. So, if a person has a mic inside, or a laptop, or a pen, what he writes, what he says, it does not change our life. We have played this game for so many years.

“So, these people cannot decide when we should go or when we should not play. I am a sensible man. I am a mature man. I am the father of two children. So, I have a little brain to decide what I want in life,” he noted.

Asked if he took this decision after the Melbourne Test defeat, Rohit said: “No, I took this decision after coming to Sydney. Because after the match, we had only two days in between. And one day was New Year’s eve. So on New Year’s, I did not want to tell this to the coach and the selector.

“But it was running in my mind that I am trying and trying. But it is not happening. So I have to accept that it is not happening. And it was important for me to step aside.

“Whenever I am captaining, I don’t believe in what is going to happen after 5 months or 6 months. What do you want in the immediate future, it is important to focus on this thing.

“Our entire focus was on these 5 matches. We had to retain the trophy, we had to win. So, when we take such decisions, we do it keeping the team in front of us,” he added.

Rohit also heaped praise on Bumrah saying he has been impressed by the latter’s leadership qualities.

“The way he (Bumrah) sets standards with the ball, he is absolute class. When I saw him for the first time in 2013, his graph has gone really high ever since and has gone from strength to strength,” he said.

Player of the Match Pat Cummins of Australia poses with the Mullagh Medal during day five of the fourth Test in the series between Australia and India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 30, 2024
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Bagging crucial wickets and delivering critical runs, Pat Cummins has been in the thick of things. After winning the fourth Test against India, the Australian captain was all smiles during a chat with the media at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Monday (December 30, 2024) evening.

“I reckon this (victory) is right at the top. Yeah, Edgbaston (2023) was pretty special and I reckon this is pretty much on par,” Cummins said while reflecting on the latest triumph.

Asked about how he manages to contribute both as a batter and bowler, Cummins quickly deflected the attention: “One of the things I love about our group is that there are so many people who want to be the match winner. Today (Mitchell) Starkey, (Nathan) Lyon, (Scott) Boland and myself, were pumped for the day. Same with the batting group. We love playing at home, we love Tests and this was one of the bigger ones.”

Talking about the strategy for the final day, the host skipper explained: “Felt we needed atleast 300. We got 90 odd overs, and that gave us 12 overs potentially with the second new ball. We had a good first session and it kind of took the win out of the equation for them. We could really go in for the attack.”

Asked about Jasprit Bumrah, Cummins said: “He has been their most influential player. I thought all their bowlers bowled really well yesterday (Sunday). He in particular poses the biggest threat.”

The speedster also praised debutant Sam Konstas: “As a nineteen-year-old, the bravery he showed on the opening day, I felt it was unreal. He has that no-fear mindset, revs up the crowd and doesn’t shy away from any contest.” And as for plans for the next few days? “A mix of happiness and rest,” Cummins quipped.