Match overview
India beat Australia by 9 wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 25 October 2025, in what turned into one of the most one-sided ODI results these two sides have produced. Australia won the toss, elected to bat, and posted 236 all out. India's openers made the target look almost embarrassingly straightforward, reaching 237 for 1 to seal a result that was barely in doubt from the midpoint of the chase. Rohit Sharma (RG Sharma) was named Player of the Match for his contribution at the top of the order.
Australia's innings had a structural problem in the middle phase. They scored 143 runs but lost 6 wickets between overs 11 and 40, a collapse that stifled any momentum their powerplay had built. Their powerplay had actually been reasonable: 63 runs for 1 wicket, sitting above the SCG's long-run average. The death overs then produced just 30 runs for 3 wickets, leaving them at 236 all out. Against a settled India top order, that proved nowhere near sufficient.
India's reply was clinical from the first ball. The powerplay brought 68 runs without loss, comfortably ahead of Australia's 63 and almost double the SCG's historic powerplay average of 35 runs. By the time the middle overs concluded, India had added a further 169 for just 1 wicket. The death overs were never needed. A side that wins by 9 wickets in an ODI chase has, effectively, never been in the game at all.
Venue and conditions
The Sydney Cricket Ground has hosted 162 ODIs and carries a well-established set of characteristics. The average first-innings score across those matches is 224, which means Australia's 236 was a fraction above par. The average second-innings score is 199, making India's chase of 237 for 1 genuinely exceptional relative to historical norms at this ground.
Pitch behaviour here tends to reward stroke play in the powerplay before the surface settles and variation in pace or line becomes more significant. The average powerplay contribution is just 35 runs, so both teams' openers outpaced the ground's norms considerably. Teams choose to field first only 37% of the time at the SCG, and the chase success rate of 47% across the ground's 162-match history suggests batting first is a reasonable strategic choice. On this occasion, India made that logic irrelevant.
Toss decisions at the SCG have not historically produced a dramatic skew either way. With a chase success rate below 50%, the team batting first has a marginal historical edge. Australia's decision to bat was therefore orthodox, even if the outcome was anything but.
How to watch
In the UK, ODI cricket featuring Australia and India is broadcast on Sky Sports Cricket. Coverage is available live via satellite subscription, Sky Go for existing subscribers watching on mobile or connected devices, and through a NOW TV Sports pass for those without a full Sky contract. Given the Sydney time zone, UK viewers face a very early morning start: a daytime match in New South Wales typically begins around midnight or 1:00 am GMT.
BBC Sport's website and the BBC Sport app carry score updates and text commentary for international fixtures. BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra does not typically carry full live commentary for bilateral ODIs outside ICC events, but check schedules for any specific programming around high-profile series.
Recent form
Australia arrived at this match having won five of their last five completed ODIs in 2025, including two victories over India earlier in the same series and three against New Zealand. That run of form made the margin of this defeat all the more striking. Their bowling clearly struggled to contain India's top order, reversing recent patterns where Australia's pace attack had looked difficult to score against.
India's own form had been more mixed coming in. They lost their first two matches against Australia in this 2025 series before stringing together wins against West Indies and Pakistan. The SCG result suggests that sequence of defeats may have been a recalibration rather than a structural decline. Across 171 ODI meetings between these sides, India now lead 75 to Australia's 73 completed wins, and this 9-wicket victory extends their edge in what remains one of international cricket's closest long-run rivalries.
