India desperate to salvage pride in Sydney against clinical Australia

Things have gone horribly haywire for Team India Down Under as they succumbed to defeats against Australia in the first two ODIs. With the series win already out of grasp, Shubman Gill's men will be hopeful of salvaging some pride when they clash against the Aussies in Sydney, in the third and final ODI.

The Men in Blue saw a resurgence in their batting unit during the second game, featuring half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer. Despite the Indian bowlers making significant inroads, they failed to close out the game as the hosts held on to cross the finish line with two wickets in hand. When the two teams lock horns in Sydney, India will be hopeful of closing out things, if they are to avert a clean sweep.

Rohit and Iyer's form, in addition to Axar Patel's handy cameos will keep India in good spirits, but they will desperately hope for skipper Gill and Virat Kohli to fire. One can expect Sydney to light up with crazy action as the two teams square off in less than 24 hours.

Venue Watch:

Sydney has always offered a pacy and bouncy wicket which makes it a paradise for the seamers. Especially the ones handling the new ball, come in hot. The surface possesses excellent carry, thereby imparting a significant edge to the fast bowlers. The track will be relatively easier to bat on in the second innings but the bowlers still have the advantage.

Match details:

Match - India vs Australia, 3rd ODI

Venue – Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

Date – 25th October, 2025

Time – 9:00 AM

Head-to-head:

Matches played - 153

India - 58

Australia - 85

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel

Australia:

Mitchell Marsh (c), Travis Head, Matthew Short, Alex Carey (w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa, Ben Dwarshuis, Marnus Labuschagne, Xavier Bartlett