🏏India tour of Australia, 2025: AUS vs IND,1st T20I, Canberra🏏

🏏India tour of Australia, 2025: Australia vs India, 1st T20I at Manuka Oval, Canberra on 29/10/2025 at 1:45PM IST🏏

Battle for T20 World Cup favouritism begins

Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Inglis are two big returns for either team as No.1 and No.2 face off with the T20 World Cup edging closer

While ODI series had relatively little meaning other than both teams taking some early steps on the road to the 2027 World Cup, the five-match T20I series beginning in Canberra on Wednesday night is of far greater significance for the near term.

The No. 1 and 2 teams in the world face off in the final throws of their preparations for February's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. The conditions will bear no relevance, but the chance for each side to test themselves and their game style against each other so close to a World Cup will be highly beneficial to both teams.

India are unequivocally the No.1 team in the world. The reigning World Cup winners stormed to the Asia Cup title without being defeated and they were only run close once by Sri Lanka in the Super Fours. They have lost just three matches since winning the World Cup in 2024 and have arguably become an even stronger and more dynamic group with an influx of young IPL talent under Suryakumar Yadav.

Jasprit Bumrah returns after being rested for the ODI series and will likely enjoy the early season conditions in Australia given his exploits with the red and pink balls down under last summer. One challenge facing India will be how to best balance the XI in Australian conditions, something they struggled with in the ODIs, having won the Asia with a spin-heavy team in spin-friendly conditions.

Meanwhile, Australia have turned over a new leaf since their disappointing exit from the 2024 World Cup at the hands of India. Back-to-back mediocre showings in the 2022 and 2024 editions force a rethink from Australia's hierarchy about their approach. The results have been spectacular since going to an all-out power-hitting method of playing under Mitchell Marsh. They have lost just two of their last 20 T20Is on the back of some electric batting led by Marsh, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Tim David, Mitchell Owen and Glenn Maxwell. They are without Green against India as he prepares for the Ashes but Marcus Stoinis and Matt Short fill the breach.

When: Australia v India, 1st T20I, October 29, 2025, 19:15 hrs Local Time, 19:15 hrs AEDT, 13:45 hrs IST

Where: Manuka Oval, Canberra

What to expect: The nation's capital doesn't see a lot of men's international cricket at this time of the year so there still seems to be a tinge of newness to proceedings here. There's been unseasonal rain in most parts of Australia, but it's expected to clear by the time the opening T20I kicks off in Canberra.

Team News

Australia

The Australian selectors have been busy shuffling the pack over the last week or so with their squads to give their certain and potential Test players enough preparation time for the Ashes while maintaining a strong enough group to combat India's challenge. A couple of unforeseen injuries have further complicated affairs, and that should open the doors for Josh Philippe to probably get a game as a specialist batter as Josh Inglis returns to the team. That does give the Aussies a very ominous looking batting line-up up and down the order, with special focus on Josh Hazlewood as he continues to wheel away at the top of his game.

Probable XI: Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Mitch Owen, Josh Philippe, Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett/Sean Abbott, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood

India

Australia is in for a treat with many of the names on display in the Indian T20I setup, and the question really will be how they slot in Kuldeep Yadav ahead of one of their two all-rounders, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar.

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh

In the spotlight: Matthew Kuhnemann and Suryakumar Yadav

In any Australian white-ball team, Adam Zampa is the first name written on the team sheet and the rest are selected from there. For the first time since the 2023 tour of India, where Australia picked a second XI post their ODI World Cup triumph, Zampa won't be in an Australian T20I XI having played every game in the past two years. He will miss the entire series for paternity reasons. It presents a great opportunity for Matthew Kuhnemann, who has played just one of Australia's last 16 T20Is despite being in every squad. Australia want the option of playing two spinners in the same XI in the World Cup, particularly in Sri Lanka. Kuhnemann can lock himself into the final 15 with a good series against some of the best spin-hitters in the world that will put him under severe pressure.

Suryakumar Yadav's fall from being the No.1 ranked T20I batter in the world in the first half of 2024 to struggling for runs in 2025 has been startling. He has not scored a half-century in his last 14 innings and has averaged 10.50 and struck at just 100.80 in that time. How or why is somewhat of a mystery given he had an outstanding IPL earlier this year as the second leading runscorer across the tournament with five half-centuries at a strike rate of 167.91. It seems incomprehensible that he wouldn't be a key pillar in India's top four heading into the World Cup but he would love some runs against Australia to ease any pressure he might be feeling.

Pitch and conditions

It is expected to be cool in Canberra on Wednesday with a medium chance of showers during the day but the evening is expected to be clear and a full game is expected. Manuka Oval has tended to be a lower scoring ground in men's T20I and BBL cricket with spin playing a role and the boundaries being large.

IND vs AUS pitch report

The Manuka Oval pitch has traditionally been one which is a batter’s paradise which will have the big hitters from both sides licking their lips at the prospect. The ground has hosted 22 T20 matches with an average first innings score being 150. Usually the team batting first has a slight advantage with 10 wins as opposed to 9 won by the chasing side.

IND vs AUS weather report

According to Accuweather app, it is expected to rain in the morning of the match with the temperature at 13 degrees. The temperatures rises to 14 degrees in the afternoon with the conditions being cloudy while in the evening, the time of the match, it’ll be partly cloudy with very little chance of rain but the temperature will plummet to 11 degrees.

Stats and trivia

• There have been five men's T20Is in Canberra, with the most recent in 2022, with the record split 2-2 between defending and chasing teams
• India won their only T20I in Canberra against Australia in 2020, defending 161
• Suryakumar's streak of 14 T20Is without a half-century is the longest of his career
• Australia have not beaten India in a T20I series in Australia since 2008

Quotes

"The opportunity to play in front of sold out crowds in pretty much all three one-day games, and what's looking like the next five T20 games, it's fantastic. I think building into the World Cup, where there's going to be big crowds and perceived pressure, it can only be beneficial for us."

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh

"I have had good few sessions back home, good two to three sessions here, so I am in a good space. I think that is really important. Runs... it will come eventually but I think working hard towards the team goal, it's more important what team wants from you in different situations and I take it one game at a time. If it starts, then I think it will be a good thing."

Suryakumar Yadav isn't concerned by his recent lack of runs

Head-to-Head Record in T20Is

Matches Played 32

AUS Won 11

IND Won 20

Tied / No Result 1

First-ever fixture September 22, 2007

Most-recent fixture June 24, 2024

Probable Best Performers of the Match

Probable Best Batter — Abhishek Sharma

The young opening batter from Punjab — Abhishek Sharma, is among the latest batting sensations in international cricket right now. He was the Player of the Match in the Men in Blue's Asia Cup triumph, and has already scored a couple of centuries in just 23 innings so far. Currently, the No. 1 T20I batter in the ICC Rankings, Abhishek Sharma is expected to garner a lot of attention from the fans for the upcoming match.

Probable Best Bowler — Josh Hazlewood

If Abhishek is the best that India have, Josh Hazlewood could put question marks around that with his sheer skills and the ability to bowl wicket-to-wicket. The right-arm pacer is also the most experienced seamer in the Australian squad, and is still going strong, being extremely frugal when it comes to his economy rate of just 7.54 after 58 matches. Hazlewood is going to be the bowler to watch out for.