"I don't know what's happening" - Former Australian captain's huge take on Team India bowlers ahead of AUS vs IND 2025 3rd ODI

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke expressed his uncertainty about why India’s bowlers were cramping during the second ODI of the three-match series on Thursday, October 23, at the Adelaide Oval.

Put into bat, India posted 264/9, with Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 73. During the bowling, all Indian pacers, including Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Mohammed Siraj, were seen cramping throughout the game. Meanwhile, Australia went on to win the match by two wickets, with 22 balls to spare.

On Friday, October 24, speaking on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast about the bowlers’ cramping, Clarke admitted he was unsure of the cause. Noting that the weather wasn’t particularly hot and suggesting they might have trained harder the day before, he said:

“Well, I don't know what's, yeah, I don't know what's happening, 'cause Perth wasn't that hot either. It was raining, so I'm, I'm, I'm not sure, unless they trained extremely hard the day before, maybe. I'm not sure. I don't know what happened there. But yeah, obviously, you know, you've only got three one-days and then you go straight into the T20s. I think, look, this Indian team in all three formats is very good.”

The 44-year-old also pointed out that the Men in Blue have not been playing their best cricket and are missing the services of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. He added:

“They're not playing their best cricket. Conditions are very, very different, opposite to what they get in India, and they've had the worst of conditions. Not making excuses for him, but they're certainly missing their two best bowlers and, in my opinion, one of their best players in Hardik Pandya. So Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been missed, there's no doubt about it. I think if those two are fit and healthy, they would come straight back into this Indian team and make a big difference. But still, Australia is outplaying India at the moment.”

Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the ODIs and is set to return for the T20I series starting October 29, while Hardik Pandya has been left out of all squads as he continues to recover from a quadriceps injury sustained during the 2025 Asia Cup.

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“There's not much more he can do” - Michael Clarke weighs in on Shubman Gill’s captaincy in his maiden ODI assignment

During the same podcast, Michael Clarke also spoke about Indian captain Shubman Gill, noting that there was not much more the 26-year-old could do as the team has been scoring below par. He added that Gill will continue to learn and improve with time. Clarke said:

“I say, I think they're 30, 30-odd runs short, so there's not much more he can do. No, I think Shubman’s one of those captains that the more he does it, the better he's going to get. And a lot of the time with captaining, it's learning to back your gut feeling or go with your instinct. And he's got senior players around, and obviously Rohit’s there and Virat’s there to go to if he needs something.”

“But I think it's having the confidence to, if you feel something, go with it. A lot of the time, you're going to get that wrong, but then you make a quick change. So as long as he continues to believe in himself. And again, like his batting, I think his batting continues to get better and better. He's still so young. He's now Test captain, One-Day captain. I think tactically, he'll continue to get better the more he does it,” he added.

The two teams will face off again on Saturday, October 25, for the final match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.