New Delhi [India], October 15 : The Indian men's team on Wednesday morning boarded the plane for Australia from the national capital ahead of the pulsating white-ball tour, scheduled to commence later this week.
Batting bigwigs, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday and linked up with the Indian team. India is touring Australia for three ODIs and five T20Is. The series will commence with the 50-Over fixtures on Sunday, and the second and third ODIs will be played on October 23 and 25. The five T20Is will be played from October 29 to November 8.
The players who were spotted at the Delhi airport included captain Shubman Gill, Rohit, Virat, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna. The first ODI at the Optus Stadium in Perth will mark the return of the stalwarts in the international circuit for the first time since the Champions Trophy.
India's unbeaten run in the Champions Trophy, which concluded on a fairytale note with Rohit being named Player of the Match for his rollicking 76(83) in the final, marked the last appearance of the veteran duo for India. They were expected to return to the Test fold, but both decided to bid adieu to the format more than a month before the England tour.
Considering they pulled the curtains down in T20Is after the fabled win in Barbados, which ended with India returning home with the T20 World Cup title, Rohit and Virat have transformed into one-format players. While Rohit has returned to the format, he will solely feature as a batter.
During the squad announcement earlier this month, chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that he had personally informed Rohit about the selectors' decision to pull the plug on his captaincy stint and hand it to Gill. The decision to pass down the captaincy mantle remains significant in the milieu of the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
India's ODI squad for Australia: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India's T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
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