98-4 (David 70, Stoinis 9) Overs bowled: 11
Oof, Tim David is on fire here. The crowd in the stands behind the long-off rope are under threat as he dispatches Varun there.
And he bags a second maximum of the over of its last ball, booming another absolute monster of a strike back down the ground. That still looked to be climbing as it struck the scoreboard. Brutal.
84-4 (David 57, Stoinis 8) Overs bowled: 10
Stoinis sweeps Axar away for four as nine runs come from the tenth over. This game is very much in the balance right now.
DOUBLE-WICKET OVER! 75-4 (David 55, Stoinis 1) Overs bowled: 9
Mitchell Marsh, c Tilak Varma b Varun, 11 (14)
Mitchell Owen b Varun 0 (1b)
Marsh looks to join in on the fun but mistimes his big hit off Varun and picks out a fielder in the deep.
And his fellow Mitch, Mitchell Owen, goes very next ball, bowled by a beauty from Varun.
It’s Marcus Stoinis who’s in at six to face the hat-trick ball, but Chakravarthy doesn’t get it quite right and the Aussie all-rounder safely tucks it away.
FIFTY! 72-2 (Marsh 11, David 53) Overs bowled: 8
India turn to part-timer Dube to try and force an error from David, but the runs just keep on flowing.
David puts him to the cover boundary first up and batters two more fours in the over to bring up his half-century off just 23 balls.
It’s monstrous hitting and an excellent way for Australia to recover from those early wickets.
57-2 (Marsh 10, David 39) Overs bowled: 7
‘Well into his stride’ – David hits a second huge six to bring up 50 for Australia
Video credit: TNT Sports
Tim David is in the mood here. He smashes the new bowler Axar into the stands over cover for a big six, and then hits an absolutely enormous maximum later in the over, walloping the spinner back down the ground. It’s such a huge hit that it strikes the advertising banner right on the top of the roof the stand… and this isn’t a small ground either.
That is a monster hit – in fact, it’s the biggest hit registered since ball-tracking registered predicted boundary distance!
43-2 (Marsh 9, David 26) Overs bowled: 6
India have just missed a chance, with a tricky catch slipping out of the grasp of Washington at point. David rubs salt into the wound, working Bumrah away to the boundary two balls later.
That brings us to the end of the powerplay with Australia rebuilding after those two early wickets.
35-2 (Marsh 7, David 20) Overs bowled: 5
Varun Chakravarthy is brought into the attack and David tears into him early. He slogs the sinner through point for four to start the over, before absolutely hammering him into the stands next ball for a massive six over the mid-off rope. One more single comes from the over as Australia’s third-wicket pair consider the need to regroup.
‘First time over the rope!’ – David smashes big six for Australia
Video credit: TNT Sports
24-2 (Marsh 7, David 9) Overs bowled: 4
It’s interesting to see David batting in this role, a good test to see how the destructive-hitter can fair up the order. He smashes Bumrah over cover point for four more, but it’s the only significant shot in another tight over from the India star.
WICKET! 18-2 (Marsh 6, David 4) Overs bowled: 3
Josh Inglis, c Patel b Arshdeep Singh, 1 (7b)
There are few better new-ball bowlers in this format in the world than Arshdeep, and he gets his second wicket of the day, with Josh Inglis mistiming a clip into the leg side and picking out the fielder on the rope.
Australia are two down and it’s Tim David, batting up the order, who comes in at No. 4. He gets off the mark first up with a booming boundary.
Watch this match LIVE on TNT Sports
The entirety of this five-match series will be broadcast live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Australia 12-1 (Marsh 5, Inglis 1) Overs bowled: 2
Jasprit Bumrah takes the new ball at the other end – what a daunting new-ball pair India have!
Marsh whips him beautifully away to the rope off the very first ball, but Bumrah is right on the money for the rest of the over, with just two more singles coming from it.
WICKET! Australia 6-1 (Marsh 0, Inglis 0) Overs bowled: 1
Travis Head, c Yadav b Arshdeep Singh, 6 (4b)
It’s Arshdeep who takes the new ball on a surface that is expected to be good for batting.
But, after Travis Head tucks him away for the opening boundary of the night, the left-armer gets his man in the very first over.
Head shanks his shot, with the bat turning in his hands on contact, skying the ball into the Hobart sky. It falls into the hands of the captain in the ring and India have an early breakthrough.
Josh Inglis is the new batter and he sees out the rest of the over.
The Teams
Australia: 1 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 2 Travis Head, 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Tim David, 5 Mitchell Owen, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Matt Short, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Sean Abbott, 11 Matt Kuhnemann
India: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Axar Patel, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
India have won the toss and decided to bowl first
India were thoroughly outplayed in Melbourne on Friday to go 1-0 down in the series, and have made a few changes to their XI for tonight’s game. Jitesh, Arshdeep and Washington come in for Samson, Rana and Kuldeep. These are the two top-ranked nations in the ICC’s T20 rankings and India will surely be the team to beat in the upcoming T20 World Cup, which follows hot on the heels of the Ashes in a packed winter of top-level cricket.
Highlights: Marsh stars as Australia beat India by four wickets to take T20 series lead
Video credit: TNT Sports
Hello and welcome
Good morning, welcome to live coverage of the third T20 International between Australia and India. You can watch this game, and the upcoming 2025/26 Ashes series, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
