Josh Philippe returns as a specialist bat as Mitch Marsh chose to bowl in first T20I against India
Josh Philippe’s head-spinning start to the season continued Wednesday at Manuka Oval after the wicketkeeper-batter was recalled for his first T20 International in nearly two years.
Australia captain Mitch Marsh won the toss and elected to bowl on a chilly Canberra evening with temperatures to drop as low as eight degrees for the BKT Tyres series-opening T20I.
Australia XI: Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
India XI: Abishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Matthew Short’s finger injury opened the door for Philippe’s return with the absence of Glenn Maxwell (expected to return for game three from a wrist injury) and Cameron Green (Test focus) further depleting Australia’s batting depth.
Matthew Kuhnemann should also finally get a solid run of matches with Adam Zampa on paternity leave. Kuhnemann has been in every Australia T20 squad this year, but played just one of 16 matches behind Zampa.
Xavier Bartlett snagged the final bowling spot with Sean Abbott to bide his time behind fellow quicks Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ellis.
India have picked three spinners along with Jasprit Bumrah, back after missing the ODI series, along with fellow quick Harshit Rana.
For the home side, Philippe’s return is the most unlikely given he appears to be the third-choice T20I keeper behind Josh Inglis, who will bat three after recovering from a calf injury that sidelined him from the preceding ODI series, and Alex Carey, who stood in for Inglis in Australia’s most recent T20Is in New Zealand.
Philippe is listed to bat at seven but has never previously batted below four in his 16 international matches.
He made his ODI return last week in his hometown Perth having previously been in the international wilderness for four years outside of a pair of T20Is in a depleted Australian team in the aftermath of their 2023 World Cup win in India.
The 28-year-old was player of the series in the four-day component of Australia A’s tour before earning a surprise recall for the NZ T20Is and then the ODIs against India.
“It has certainly been a whirlwind,” he told cricket.com.au’s Unplayable Podcast this week. “But a very exciting one. The goal and the dream is to be back in the Australian setup. It’s just been awesome to be back around the group.
“If you asked me six weeks ago … it’s all turned pretty quickly. To be back and get an ODI in Perth, all my family got to be there to see it as well. All my previous games and tours have been overseas or during COVID
“It’s been a special few weeks.”
Ben McDermott joined the Australian squad as a standby player before play, while Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the first three matches for India with neck and quad issues.
Australia v India T20Is 2025
October 29: First T20I v India, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT
October 31: Second T20I v India, MCG, Melbourne, 7:15pm AEDT
November 2: Third T20I v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 7:15pm AEDT
November 6: Fourth T20I v India, Gold Coast Stadium, Gold Coast, 7:15pm AEDT
November 8: Fifth T20I v India, The Gabba, Brisbane, 7:15pm AEDT
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
