India cricket team clinched a consolation with in the IND vs AUS 3rd ODI to end the series on a high note despite losing the series 2-1. Led by new captain Shubman Gill, the Men in Blue suffered successive defeats in Perth and Adelaide, thereby losing their first 50-over format series after the Champions Trophy 2025. While Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stormed back to form, although a tad bit too late, captain Gill and coach Gambhir come under scrutiny for the team selection.
India report card after Australia ODIs
| Department | Rating |
| Captaincy | 3/10 |
| Coaching (team selection) | 3/10 |
| Batting | 5/10 |
| Bowling | 4/10 |
| Fielding | 4/10 |
The series loss to Australia marks Gambhir’s second as head coach and Gill’s first as the ODI captain. At the forefront of the criticism directed at the duo is the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav for the first two games. The spinner has been in the form of his life, having performed consistently across formats, and could have been the X-factor for India in Perth and Adelaide. However, Gambhir’s obsession with all-rounders led him to pursue with Nitish Kumar Reddy over Yadav in the playing XI while Harshit Rana was given repeated chances.
India lost the IND vs AUS 1st ODI, which was a rain-hit tie, by 7 wickets, with Kohli being dismissed for a 8-ball duck and Rohit departing after scoring just 8 runs. The rest of the Indian batters perished cheaply as well, leaving the team in a perilous position. In the end, Australia clinched a rather comfortable win in the contest that was reduced to 26 overs. Although the bowlers toiled hard, they hardly tasted success as Australia dominated the proceedings throughout.
In the IND vs AUS 2nd ODI, Kohli was once again dismissed for a duck. Meanwhile, Sharma bounced back to form with a valiant 73-run knock. Shreyas Iyer (61) did well to help India amass more runs while Gill failed yet again. However, India failed to defend the 265-run target, with Australia sneaking away with a 2-wicket win.
Across the 2 ODIs, Nitish Reddy contributed bare minimum with the bat and was used least with the ball. One could easily point out that Gambhir and Gill’s decision to have the all-rounder in the XI purely to increase the batting depth backfired on the team. Meanwhile, Rana was quite expensive with the ball and wasn’t too handy with the bat either, barring his 24-run cameo in the 2nd ODI.
It took Gambhir and Gill two back-to-back losses to make amends to their playing XI and finally give Kuldeep a chance. Rana registered his career-best figures of 4/36 in Sydney to help India bowl out Australia for 234 runs. Rohit’s hot form continued from the previous game as he slammed his 50th ODI century while Kohli finally broke free from the shackles of poor form to score his 70th half-century in run-chases. In the end, India completed a 9-wicket win to end the series on a high note. Rohit finished as the highest run-getter for India in the IND vs AUS ODIs. Meanwhile, Rana surprisingly finished as the highest wicket-taker with 6 scalps to his name despite being the most expensive as well.
