Is Arshdeep Singh playing in today's AUS vs IND 2025 3rd T20I?

Team India seamer Arshdeep Singh's exclusion from the playing XI of the first two T20Is against Australia came under massive scrutiny from fans and experts. Nevertheless, the left-arm seamer has been included in the XI for the third T20I at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart as the Men in Blue seek to level the five-match series. He has replaced Harshit Rana in the XI.

Despite being India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is, the 26-year-old wasn't picked in the first two games, with India preferring Rana and Jasprit Bumrah as their two seamers. The Madhya Pradesh-born cricketer was also instrumental in the national team's T20 World Cup victory last year. With 17 scalps in eight innings at 12.64, he was the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament.

In the preceding ODI series against Australia, the southpaw took three wickets in two games.

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"I just cannot understand how Arshdeep Singh keeps missing out on the XI in this side" - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin. (Image Credits: Getty)

Following India's four-wicket loss in the second T20I in Melbourne, former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin suggested that the left-arm pacer should be one of the first names in the playing XI and that he should play instead of Harshit Rana. Ashwin said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel 'Ashwin':

"Arshdeep Singh’s name should be the second name on your fast bowlers’ list if Bumrah is playing. If Bumrah is not playing, Arshdeep becomes your first bowler on that team list. I just cannot understand how Arshdeep Singh keeps missing out on the XI in this side. I don’t really get it. Of course, Harshit Rana had a decent day with the bat. He batted decently, but this is not about him at all. It’s about Arshdeep Singh."

"The performance he put in the T20 World Cup in 2024 was impressive, but since then, he has consistently found ways to stay out of the team. He has been benched so many times that he has lost a bit of rhythm. He deserves to be there, and it’s not about somebody else. He has a place in the team. Please play him," he added.

It is also India's first T20I at the venue. Australia won their last T20I at the Bellerive Oval, defeating Pakistan by seven wickets.

The hosts had also chased down 126 in the second T20I to beat India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), thereby taking a 1-0 lead. The first match was abandoned due to rain.