Tilak Varma rested, Sanju Samson continues to warm bench

India cricket team have decided to make just one change to their playing XI for the IND vs AUS 5th T20I in Brisbane. After losing yet another toss, captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that Rinku Singh will be making his first appearance in the series while Tilak Varma has been rested. This also means Sanju Samson and Harshit Rana will continue to warm the bench while Arshdeep Singh and Jitesh Sharma get another opportunity.

India playing XI for IND vs AUS 5th T20I

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
On bench: Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana

Rinku was last seen in action during the Asia Cup 2025 final where he hit the winning runs against Pakistan. In fact, that was the only game he featured in in the tournament, having gotten a chance as Hardik Pandya was injured. Meanwhile, Tilak’s outings in Australia haven’t been great, as the batter managed to register scores of 0, 29 and 5 in the three innings that he featured in.

India have also decided to give Jitesh a third game on the trot. On his return to the T20I side for the first time since January 2024, the keeper-batter played a handy 22-run cameo in the 3rd T20I followed by a poor outing in the 4th. Nevertheless, his inclusion in the XI means Samson will complete this series by warming the bench.

India have gone ahead with three all-rounders in the form of Axar, Dube and Sundar. The pace department comprises of Arshdeep and Bumrah while the spin unit will be spearheaded by Varun.

IND vs AUS squads

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

Australia: Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Josh Philippe, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Mahli Beardman