The Indian cricket team will usher in their new era of ODI cricket with the upcoming ODI series in Australia, as it will mark Shubman Gill’s first ODI series as India’s newly heralded captain in the 50-over format.
Gill has replaced Rohit Sharma at the helm, bringing curtains to Rohit’s illustrious tenure as India’s ODI skipper. India clinched the last two white-ball ICC trophies under Rohit—T20 World Cup 2025 and ICC Champions Trophy 2025—after losing the final of the World Cup 2023, where India had been unbeaten throughout their campaign until the fateful night of November 19.
The IND vs AUS ODI series will also be keenly watched as both Rohit and Virat Kohli, returning to international cricket for the first time since March, are now under pressure to perform as batsmen and merit their positions in the XI as India start building towards the 2027 World Cup.
The IND vs AUS limited-overs tour will begin with a three-match ODI series on October 19 in Perth, with Adelaide and Sydney hosting the second and third ODIs, and will be followed by a five-match T20I series.
Indian fans will be setting their alarms, even during the festive Diwali week, to watch Rohit and Kohli. For, who knows how much more international cricket these two giants have left in them?
Talking about India’s squad, Jasprit Bumrah is rested, while Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy, who were part of the Champions Trophy squad, are not included. Hardik Pandya will miss the tour due to a quadriceps injury, and Rishabh Pant because of a foot injury.
The players who have replaced them are Mohammed Siraj, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Prasidh Krishna.
Talking about India playing XI for the IND vs AUS 1st ODI, most of the players pick themselves in the first-choice side.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are set to open, followed by a settled core of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul, all of whom were excellent in the ICC Champions Trophy. Iyer, meanwhile, is named the vice-captain.
Reddy is expected to fill the role of Hardik in the side as a seam-bowling all-rounder, followed by Axar Patel, who has been used as a left-handed disruptor of spinners in the middle overs over the last year and a half in white-ball cricket both by Rahul Dravid and Gambhir.
This forms India’s top 7 with two all-rounders in it.
The difficult task for Gill and Gambhir would be to pick the bowling attack. Arshdeep Singh is likely to get the nod, and either Prasidh Krishna or Mohammed Siraj could be the second bowler.
It seems that Harshit Rana, who can hit the deck as a pacer and also whack the ball over the fence as a batsman, is being groomed for the No. 8 role. Given Kuldeep Yadav’s excellent form, he is very likely to slot into the XI as the frontline spinner.
Another combination would be to include Washington Sundar and a third pacer in place of Harshit and Kuldeep.
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj/Prasidh Krishna.
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