The Indian Men's Cricket Team departed for Australia on Wednesday morning to participate in the upcoming white-ball series, which comprises three ODIs and five T20Is. Veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will mark their return to the ODI team, with Shubhman Gill leading the squad.
The ODI series is slated to begin on Sunday at the Optus Stadium in Perth, followed by matches on October 23 and 25. At the same time, the five-match T20 series will continue from October 29 to November 8.
Captain Shubhman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, and Harshit Rana are the key players who were spotted at the Delhi Airport departing for Australia.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were last seen in action during the Champions Trophy in February-March. Sharma was also awarded the Player of the Match award for his knock of 76 runs in the final.
The two veterans are now only one-format players, having retired from tests and T20S. Following India's T20 World Cup win in Barbados, Kohli and Sharma called it a day. They also stepped down ahead of the England tour this June.
Before the team announcement for the Australia tour, BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar relieved Rohit Sharma of captaincy, announcing Shubhman Gill as the new Captain. He will continue his ODI run as a player.
BCCI stressed that the team selection is based on the fact that the next ODI World Cup is scheduled in 2027, which will give ample amount of time for Gill to fit in the role.
India's ODI squad for the Australia tourTeam India's squad for the white-ball tour in Australia includes: Shubhman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (Vice Captain), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (Wicketkeeper-batter), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India's T20 squad for the Australia tourSuryakumar Yadav will lead the team in T20S with Shubhman Gill as the Vice Captain. The squad comprises: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Shubhman Gill (Vice Captain), Tilak Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, and Washington Sundar.