AUS vs IND 2025: ‘Bowlers gave him too much room’ - Irfan Pathan analyses India’s tactical miss in Hobart

Published - 02 Nov 2025, 22:10 IST | Updated - 02 Nov 2025, 22:48 IST

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan lauded Australia’s Tim David for his explosive half-century in the third T20I of the five-match series. The match took place on Sunday, November 2, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Australia posted 186/6 in their 20 overs, with David smashing 74 off 38 balls, including eight fours and five sixes. Marcus Stoinis also made a valuable contribution with 64 off 39 deliveries, while Arshdeep Singh picked up three wickets for India. In response, Washington Sundar top-scored with an unbeaten 49 off 23 balls as the visitors clinched the game by five wickets. Despite Australia’s defeat, David earned praise for his explosive innings.

“Look, the way Tim David batted, I think right now if you talk about the top five six-hitters in the world, his name will definitely be included. There is no doubt about that. He even hit Varun for two consecutive sixes when Varun was changing his angle and wickets were also falling, but it didn’t affect him at all,” said Pathan on his YouTube Channel.

The 41-year-old further pointed out that India employed the wrong tactic against David by targeting the off-stump line, which he felt was not the right approach.

“However, the Indian team missed one thing against him, as a bowler, you first need to see where he is standing. Tim David was standing outside the leg stump, and whenever he stands outside leg stump, it means that his off stump is not actually the off stump, it becomes the width. That’s why, even if you target the middle stump, for him it turns into the off stump, because his bat remains open and he stands slightly toward the leg side, away from the stumps,” Pathan said.

Pathan also highlighted that given David’s tendency to bat from outside the leg stump, Indian bowlers should have targeted his pads and avoided giving him any room to free his arms.

“So whenever you bowl to him, either target his leg stump or his pads. That will be the right line. Do not give him room. Bowling to him on the stumps, especially the off stump, gives him room, which the Indian bowlers did. If you look at his wagon wheel, around 70 to 80 percent of his runs came on the off side, and there was only one run on the leg side near fine leg,” said Pathan.

“That means the Indian bowlers neither used enough short balls nor targeted his pads. They gave him complete freedom to open up and play his shots. So it’s very important as a bowling unit to first observe where the batter is standing. Even though it didn’t turn out to be a match-winning innings, this analysis is crucial,” he added.

The two teams will face off in the fourth T20I on Wednesday, November 5, at the Bill Pippen Oval in Gold Coast.