Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh introduced the right bowler against Shivam Dube. For the Australia vs India 4th T20I (AUS vs IND 4th T20I), the Indian team management sent Dube out in the park as the number 3 batter, which was his unusual position. The all-rounder was just about to settle down on the track when Australian pacer Nathan Ellis dismantled the timbers with a slower delivery. 

Just a few balls ago, before losing the wicket, Dube smashed spinner Adam Zampa for the six. The ball went out of the stadium. But as soon as Marsh put Nathan Ellis, a pacer, into the attack, the left-handed all-rounder was exposed. 

During the third ball of the 12th over of the first innings, Ellis took off most of the pace from the delivery and guided it towards the leg stump. Dube tried to push the ball towards the leg side, using the pace, but he proved absolutely wrong as the ball had barely any pace and hardly enough room for the southpaw to use his wrists. The ball sneaks past the inside edge, clips him on the thigh pad of the back leg and deflects onto the stumps. Dube heads back to the dugout after scoring 22 from 18 balls.

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Shivam Dube clean bowled in AUS vs IND 4th T20I 

With Abhishek Sharma (28) and Shubman Gill, Team India got a flying start at the Heritage Bank Stadium. Both of the batters played some aggressive shots to set a foundation for a big score. In the opening pair, Team India put on a fifty-plus run partnership. 

After the departure of Sharma, Team India was struggling to maintain momentum in the middle overs. With a boundary and an over-boundary, Dube was looking promising, but he was not able to score impressive runs.

Nathan Ellis once again provided a crucial breakthrough for Australia, while the visitors India were moving on top in the 180+ chase in the third T20I of the five-match series at Hobart, as the Aussie pacer dismissed Axar Patel with another top bouncer, while Xavier Bartlett took a stunning catch. 

While India were chasing down the 187-run target to level the series, they lost their third wicket at 76 runs in the eighth over, as Axar Patel came to the crease. With Tilak Verma, Axar set a crucial 35-run partnership for the fourth wicket. While India were dominating with 111/3 in 11 overs, Nathan Ellis, the bowler of the night for Australia, produced another crucial breakthrough by dismissing Axar. 

[WATCH] Abhishek Sharma opens account with 6 during AUS vs IND 3rd T20I in Hobart

Xavier Bartlett took stunning catch to dismiss Axar Patel

It was another well-directed short delivery, which cramped Axar, as the left-handed batter went for an uncontrolled pull shot with his top edge. While Xavier Bartlett was fielding at midwicket, he had to run forward for the catch and timely grabbed the ball, which was just going down. It was a brilliant catch on an outstanding delivery, as Axar was dismissed for 17 runs off 12 balls, where he hit one four. 

Xavier Bartlett that is a phenomenal catch! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/SgRYuZ5mGO

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 2, 2025

India won by 5 wickets

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav chose to field first, as Australia scored 186/6 in 20 overs. As the boundaries were small, India would be happy with the target. Arshdeep Singh (3/35) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/33) were the top Indian bowlers, while Tim David (74) and Marcus Stoinis (64) played crucial roles in the Aussie innings.

Meanwhile, India comfortably chased down the target in 18.3 overs after losing five wickets. While all Indian batters made some impacts in that chase, Washington Sundar played a memorable knock of 49 not out off 23 balls with three fours and four sixes. Nathan Ellis was the best bowler for Australia on the night (4-0-36-3), but he didn't get enough support from the other bowlers.  

As Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss at the Adelaide Oval, he elected to bowl first against India in the second ODI of the series. Australia currently has a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and have made three changes to their playing XI, whilst India has once again elected to stick with the same XI, despite suffering a crushing loss in the first ODI at Perth.

Australia have replaced Josh Philippe, Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Ellis with Alex Carey, Adam Zampa and Xavier Bartlett, respectively. Carey's inclusion brings further depth into the middle order, and experience behind the stumps after a good stint for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. Zampa bolsters their spin options, and Bartlett takes the place of Ellis whilst adding a little extra pace to the mix.

Australia's pace attack has a big boost with Bartlett, as India look to square the series

The omission of Nathan Ellis raised a few eyebrows, especially given the reasonable pickup he had in Perth – he bowled a couple of brilliant deliveries which had ending Gill's innings, as well as taking 1/29 off five overs. However, Bartlett is in line with the Australian mindset and tactic thinking. Bartlett is renowned for his ability to swing the new ball and working to fuller lengths, both aspects that can translate positively on the Adelaide surface. His tall height and skillset can create an uncomfortable state for the Indian top order, who struggled against pace and bounce in the 1st ODI. 

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Another reason for a change in pace bowling is Australia's rotating squad policy. They have several pacers like Pat Cummins, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and Ben Dwarshuis on the recovery from injury, and the management are being conservative  in terms of load management. Ellis is also a member of Australia's T20I squad for the upcoming series against India, therefore he is being managed for the shorter format where his ability will be more viable at the death.

There were no changes to India's playing XI after the loss. The experienced top order of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill are once again expected to set the tone, and keep the side alive in the series. 

With cool conditions and early movement anticipated, Australia's choice to bowl first may pay off. India, on the other hand, will hope to counter early swing and post a competitive score on a ground that is generally a high scoring one.

Playing XIs:
Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Matthew Short, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
India: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.

Australia got off to a great start in the India vs Australia 1st ODI 2025 at Optus Stadium, Perth, having won the toss and deciding to bowl first. The home seamers imposed immediate pressure on India with simple and disciplined bowling. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc struck in back-to-back overs, dismissing star batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to leave India in trouble at the end of the powerplay.

The surface at Perth offered quick bounce and seam movement and Hazlewood and Starc exploited the conditions perfectly. They maintained excellent control, not allowing the Indian top order to settle. With both openers back in the shed early, the visitors were forced into a defensive mode in the face of the continued dominance of the hosts in the early exchanges. 

The highlight of the innings came when Australian captain Mitchell Marsh brought on Nathan Ellis. The decision turned out to be a masterstroke, as Ellis struck with his very first delivery. He dismissed Shubman Gill (10 off 18) with a good-length delivery angling down the leg side. Gill tried to glance it fine but got a faint edge, and Josh Philippe completed a sharp catch behind the stumps. The dismissal left India reeling at 25/3 in the ninth over.

India vs Australia 1st ODI: India in Trouble After Top-Order Collapse

As of this writing, India is 25/3 in the ninth over, with Shreyas Iyer & Axar Patel at the crease, looking to rebuild the innings after the top-order failure put enormous pressure on India’s middle order in tough conditions.

Watch the video here

Gill wicket

Taken by nathan ellis pic.twitter.com/AYRSd2P2P0

— SmithianEra (@Trexsnyder2345) October 19, 2025

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With light rain and strong winds creating additional challenges, the Australian pacers have been relentless. The Australian pacers have control and movement and were able to take advantage of the Perth pitch to keep the Indian batters guessing. They were able to make early breakthroughs, including Ellis capturing the wicket of Gill, giving Australia the upper hand in the first ODI of the series.

On the eve of their T20I series against New Zealand, Australia have copped a major blow, with star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell ruled out with a right wrist fracture sustained in a training session in Mount Maunganui. 

The injury happened in the nets when Maxwell was rolling his arm over to Mitchell Owen, who smashed a ball straight back at Maxwell, hitting him flush on the wrist while the 36-year-old was in extreme pain. Maxwell withdrew from training, where he was later ruled out of the three-match series that commences Wednesday at Bay Oval. 

Teammate Matthew Short, who witnessed the incident, said it was a bad hit. “I just saw it out of the corner of my eye. Owen smoked it, then the aftermath was the ball hit maxi on the wrist. It didn’t sound good,” Short told cricket.com.au. “He’s done injuries before, he was disappointed but he’ll be fine.”

Cricket Australia announced that Maxwell will return home and consult a specialist in the next few days. The indication is he may recover in time for the Big Bash League in December, however his availability for the upcoming T20I series against India later this month, is still very much up in the air.

Another injury in an already injury hit period

With Maxwell unavailable, it only adds to Australia’s concerns, after already losing Josh Inglis with a calf injury, leading to Alex Carey being brought back into the fold. Australia also are without Cameron Green, who has turned his attention to Sheffield Shield cricket, ahead of the Ashes. Pat Cummins has been given some time off due to his ongoing lower back complaints, and Nathan Ellis, who is going to miss a couple of games because he stayed at home as his wife was having their first baby.

In recent years, Maxwell has been on the end of some unfortunate injuries, including a freak leg fracture whilst at a birthday party in 2022 and suffering a concussion after falling from a golf cart during the 2023 World Cup, However, he remained an integral part of Australia’s white ball setup, and had only a few weeks ago, contributed in an important role against South Africa.

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Philippe earns surprise recall

Selectors have named Josh Philippe, the wicketkeeper-batter for the Sydney Sixers, to replace the absent Maxwell. Philippe has not played for Australia since last December and has earned his recall after performing well on the recent Australia A tour of India, where he scored a century in the unofficial Tests.

While Abbotsford is a backup wicketkeeping option along with Carey, Philippe adds depth to the batting group. His international T20 record is not overly impressive to this point–150 runs in 12 innings at an average of 12.5. This series offers Philippe an outstanding chance to resurrect his T20I career and solidify a place for next year’s T20 World Cup.

Updated Australia squad for NZ T20Is

Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matt Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Pure joy for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as two of their foreign talents are doing exceptionally well during their international duties. While most talks are running around young batter Dewald Brevis, Australian seamer Nathan Ellis also is riding high.

 The three-match T20I series between Australia and South Africa turned out to be more intense when they met for the series decider. After scoring a record-breaking century, Brevis again went berserk to score 53 off 26 for South Africa. On the other hand, Nathan Ellis took 3 wickets for Australia. In fact, Ellis is the man who helped Australia to get rid of the dangerous Brevis. In his 4-over spell, the pace bowler got the wickets of Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Brevis, and Senuran Muthusamy.

CSK, from their official social media account, shared a special post to mark Nathan's stunning form with the ball. In their social media post, CSK wrote as a caption, "Ellis treated us to a 3⃣RIPLE delight!" From the beginning of 2025, the 30-year-old has been bowling with consistency for the Australia cricket team.

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Nathan Ellis emerged as one of the major wicket-taking bowlers for Australia 

Before the ongoing South Africa series, Ellis looked promising against the West Indies in back-to-back 5 matches. Nathan Ellis slowly but surely improves his bowling skills according to international standards. The medium-pace bowler has become one of the most lethal bowlers in death overs.

For Australia, Ellis has recently picked up multiple wickets during the closing moments of matches. He played only 1 match for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025 and got a wicket as well.

Ellis treated us to a 3⃣RIPLE delight! 🦁✨#WhistlePodu #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/xcDVtvpjC8

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) August 16, 2025

Another bowler from Australia caught cricket fans' attention through some splendid performances. Nathan Ellis slowly but surely improves his bowling skills according to the international standards. The medium-pace bowler has become one of the most lethal bowlers in death overs. For Australia, Ellis has recently picked up multiple wickets during the closing moments of matches. According to stats, since January 2024, the Australian international in 10 death overs got 9 wickets for an economy rate of only 6.85. 

Now, when rumors related to the Indian Premier League (IPL) have started to circulate across social media platforms, some may feel curious to imagine which IPL franchise Nathan Ellis can be a great fit for. There are some of the IPL teams whose bowling department needs some much-needed repairing ahead of the IPL 2026. 

3 IPL teams that should go for Nathan Ellis:

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Apart from some few individual brilliances, the champion of IPL 2024 failed to perform as a unit in IPL 2025. While Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy looked dependable as usual, overseas pace picks did not click. Neither Spencer Johnson nor Anrich Nortje looked superior on the ground. KKR needs someone, especially in the pace bowling department, who has the wicket-taking abilities. Ellis can be a good fit for the multi-time IPL-winning franchise. 

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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Another power-packed team that got on the wrong side in IPL 2025. SRH had a rare setback in the previous campaign, and they definitely have to do some repair in the squads. Mostly dependent on batting talents, SRH lacked heavily inbowling strength. Pat Cummins alone can't lead the bowling department for the whole competition. They need some more talents in the squad who can take wickets when the team needs them the most. The wicket-taking ability of Ellis can be helpful for the Hyderabad-based franchise. 

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): On pen and paper, they looked brilliant. But on the field, they struggled a lot. Mostly dependent on Indian raw talents, LSG required a leader in their bowling attack. Nathan can be the man who can strike from the front.