Five things we learned from Australia's T20s against India

Nathan Ellis will be among the first picked at the T20 World Cup

It's Nathan Ellis' time to play.

After his stunning hat-trick on debut in 2021, the paceman wasn't included in Australia's 2022 T20 World Cup squad and played only three of the Aussies' seven games at the 2024 edition.

Aided by Mitch Starc's retirement from the format, Ellis' name will be one of the first ones on the team sheet at the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Ellis finished as the series' leading wicket-taker (nine) and finished with the best strike rate of all bowlers to deliver at least five overs (9.55).

He was exceptional during the Gold Coast match, where he overcame a slow start to finish as arguably the game's best bowler.

On that occasion, he conceded 10 runs from his first three balls but responded in what India captain Suryakumar Yadav described as subcontinent-like conditions to capture figures of 3-11 from his next 21 balls.

Ever the team-man, Ellis was described by his skipper Mitch Marsh as "a pleasure to captain" and "a really smart cricketer", and the Hobart Hurricanes superstar has also seen his role shift in what could be a precursor to next year's World Cup.

With no Starc, Ellis has found himself bowling more in the Powerplay rather than only though the middle and death overs.

"I just want to plug any hole that's needed for the team," Ellis said after the fourth T20I.

"I probably bowled a little bit earlier in the Powerplay, I usually will come in (for the) fifth or sixth (over).

"It's trying to navigate our way through the Powerplay, especially tonight, when you know that the wicket's potentially getting a bit slower, the Powerplay feels like the time to score runs.

"I'll do any role they want me to do, whether it's one, six or 20, I'll bowl."

Australia will let the opposition set the target

If the coin lands in Australia's favour, expect Mitch Marsh to choose to field.

While not an earth-shattering revelation, Australia's preference is way ahead of the global trend.

Australia have won the toss and opted to bat first only once this World Cup cycle, and that was when Josh Inglis was skipper against Pakistan in Sydney last year.

The global average of teams who choose to field first, by comparison to Australia's 93 per cent, is 55 per cent.

Captain Marsh doubled down after winning four of the five coin flips in this series and that trend is almost certain to continue in the subcontinent early next year.

At the most recent IPL earlier this year, captains chose to bowl first in 60 of the 73 matches.

And to be fair to Marsh it has worked, with an incredible 81.82 per cent win rate (excluding washed out matches) when winning the toss this calendar year.

"I don't necessarily see it as a unusual tactic that we employ," Marsh said after the Brisbane T20I was washed out.

"But there will be times when the conditions suit and we will bat first.

"So we're not closed-minded by that in any sense, but a lot of the grounds and a lot of the conditions that we face, we feel that we're best suited to chasing."

We're yet to see the full power of Australia's top seven

The Aussies have stacked their batting lineup with power hitters and Travis Head has vowed to not "chew up balls" at the top of the order.

Heading into this series, their average Powerplay score for this calendar year was 61, but as a result of some tricky pitches and some quality Indian bowling, the Aussies managed scores of 56, 43 and 48 in their three innings.

But you only need to look at this year's IPL to know that conditions will likely favour the batter at next year's T20 World Cup – the 220 mark was passed 15 times and 250 was reached twice.

That is no doubt why Australia have done away with the 'anchor' batter in their XI and will instead rely on their contingent of power-hitters to read the game if a cluster of wickets fall.

"There has been a shift," coach Andrew McDonald told reporters in Canberra when asked about the batting mentality.

"When we set out on this journey, we'd failed in a couple of World Cups previously, so we wanted to shift and stretch the boundaries on what we thought we could do.

"We have been more aggressive, we've played people in different positions. Tim David has batted a little bit higher than previously.

"We've got to change things up. We've got to stretch ourselves."

David has flourished in his new role batting at number four or five, smoking 395 this calendar year at a strike rate of 197.50.

From a player who had never batted inside the Powerplay to one who regularly dominates inside it, he now looms as one of Australia's important players.

"We spoke at the start of the 16 games that we wanted to give TD as many balls as possible," Marsh said.

"He's got an amazing skill set through all the phases of the game.

"He's shown us, he's shown everyone how good he can be on the world stage. He's an amazing asset for us."

A lot rests on Glenn Maxwell's bowling

With seven big-hitting batters in the XI, Australia will be desperate to have a fully-fit Glenn Maxwell as their dedicated fifth bowler.

Maxwell performed exceptionally well as Australia's second "specialist" spinner in the successful 2023 ODI World Cup and as virtually the team's sole spinner at the 2015 edition.

But on return from a fractured forearm, Maxwell did not bowl in the final two games against India.

Instead, the fifth bowler duties were handed to Marcus Stoinis, with Matt Short and Mitch Owen chipping in for one over apiece.

Stoinis is a versatile bowler, and has done well for Australia in all three phases of the game, but is much more expensive than Maxwell, especially in the subcontinent.

From all T20 cricket in India, including internationals and IPL, Stoinis has an economy rate of 9.75 while Maxwell's is 8.40.

Situationally, Stoinis can do a job but having the spin of Maxwell balances the Aussie attack.

The missing piece to that puzzle is Cameron Green, who didn't feature in this series yet could easily slot into Australia's top seven. 

Green's T20I bowling is unproven however, having bowled only 12 times in the format.

Don't underestimate the importance of holding catches

A massive aspect of Australia's most recent World Cup victory, the 2023 ODI tournament, was the side's brilliance in the field.

Their fielding displays in the semi-final and final were exceptional in two high-pressure matches.

By contrast, Australia were below par in that department at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

In numbers provided by Opta, Australia dropped 14 catches at that tournament, including five in the crucial Super Eight loss to Afghanistan in St Vincent.

Their seven spills in this India series are the most recorded by this team in two years, with the two in Brisbane off Indian dasher Abhishek Sharma looking costly before the rain set in.

Two dropped catches cost Australia's women's team dearly at last month's ODI World Cup and the Aussie men will know they'll have to fire in all three facets of the game if they're to lift the trophy at Narendra Modi Stadium in March.

Australia v India T20Is 2025

October 29: No result

October 31: Australia won by four wickets

November 2: India won by five wickets

November 6: India won by 48 runs

November 8: No result

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott (games 1-3), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman (games 3-5), Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis (games 4-5), Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood (games 1-2), Ben McDermott (standby player) Glenn Maxwell (games 3-5), Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (wk), Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Tanveer Sangha

India squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar