AUS vs IND 2025-26, 3rd T20I, Highlights: Washington Sundar’s stunning 49* powers India to victory as Tim David’s explosive 74 goes in vain.
Brief Scores: India 188/5 (Washington Sundar 49*,Tilak Varma 29, Nathan Ellis 3/36) lost to Australia 186/6 (Tim David 74, Marcus Stoinis 64, Arshdeep Singh 3/35) by 5 wickets.
India sealed a comfortable five-wicket win over Australia at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart to keep the series alive with two games to go. Earlier in the day, India kept the hosts down to 186 on a great batting track, thanks to a great spell on return to the team by Arshdeep Singh. After a solid start, Washington Sundar upped the ante when required in the late overs to help India win in a canter.
Talking Points: Shubman Gill’s poor return with the bat
After making a promising start in the series opener in a rain-affected game at Canberra, Shubman Gill endured back-to-back failures in the subsequent games. Here again at Hobart, where Gill was expected to anchor and stay till the end on a great batting wicket, the vice-captain fell for 15.
However, Gill’s failure in the format is not limited to this series as he has not crossed 50 in any of his last 13 innings with his highest score being 47 at Dubai against Pakistan at Asia Cup. He hasn’t been able to give India quick starts or has been batting deep. Before this, Gill started to open with Abhishek for India, it was Sanju Samson, who donned that role and was quite successful, smashing three centuries.
So is it time for India to go back to their tried and tested pair of Sanju-Abhishek at the top?
Read More: AUS vs IND 2025-26, 2nd T20I: Josh Hazlewood entangles India with 3-13; Australia draw first blood
Australia reach 186 courtesy of attacking half-centuries by David and Stoinis
Batting first for the first time in this series, Australia lost two quick early wickets (Travis Head and Josh Inglis) in piece, courtesy of Arshdeep Singh. They were close to losing a third, but Washington Sundar dropped a straight forward catch offered by Tim David off Jasprit Bumrah. From then it was all David’s show as he hammered three fours and two sixes in the next couple of overs.
The No.1 ranked bowler in T20Is, Varun Chakravarthy brought back India into the contest by picking back-to-back wickets of skipper Marsh and Mitchell Owwn. Despite that, runs continued to flow from the bat of David, with Marcus Stoinis joining him on the assault. Their stand of 45 runs for the fifth wicket followed by Short-Stoinis sixth wicket stand of 64 runs ensured, Australia added 100 runs in the middle overs (7-16). This propelled the home team’s total to a competitive 186/6.
Chasing 187 on what looked like a belter of a batting track, Abhishek Sharma started from where he left off at Melbourne, smashing 21 of the 26 runs scored by India in the first two overs. However Nathan Ellis bounced out Abhishek to stop the carnage and a couple of overs later trapped Shubman Gill in front for 15. Despite losing two wickets, India reached 64 in the powerplays, laying a perfect platform for them to reach the target.
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who is not amongst the runs in recent times, looked in great touch before getting dismissed to a slower ball while on 24. The pair of Axar Patel and Tilak Varma steadied the ship in the middle overs before a cameo from Washington Sundar (49 off 23)took the game completely away from the hosts.
Read More: Asia Cup in the bag but India’s real road to T20 WC 2026 begins down under next month
Statistical Highlights from Australia vs India, 3rd T20I, 2025
- Arshdeep Singh dismissed Travis Head for the first time in T20Is. The latter has scored 35 runs from 22 balls bowled by the former in this format.
- Tim David registered his 10th fifty-plus score in T20Is.
- David’s 74 is his highest T20I score against India, eclipsing 54 at Hyderabad in 2022.
- Varun Chakravarthy took Marsh’s wicket for the first time in T20I cricket.
- Marcus Stoinis’ first T20I half-century against India and sixth overall.
- The partnership of 64 runs between Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Short is the second-highest sixth-wicket stand for Australia against India.
- Arshdeep Singh (104) overtook Mohammed Nabi (103) in terms of T20I wickets.
- Australia’s total of 186-6 is their joint third-highest team score against India in home T20Is.
- Shubman Gill has gone 13 innings without scoring a fifty in T20Is. His last fifty in this format came against Zimbabwe in Harare in July 2024.
- Nathan Ellis has dismissed Abhishek Sharma in all three matches so far in this series.
What’s next
With the series in the balance, the teams now move to the Gold Coast stadium at Melbourne for the fourth game of the series on November 6. Both sides will be eyeing for a win in this game.
Australia would love to have Glenn Maxwell back in the ranks after missing out here and India will want to continue their winning run.
What a lovely innings this from Washington sundar. Took the shot away with touch of class.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) November 2, 2025
Read More: AUS vs IND 2025-26, 1st T20I: Surya shows glimpses of form in rain-hit abandoned game
