Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli have been rested for the first two ODI clashes against Australia and KL Rahul will lead the ‘Men in Blue’ against a strong visiting side. Rohit and Kohli are the core batters who will miss out the initial games and they are not the only key players to miss the squad for the first two ODI’s. Left-arm Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav will also miss the first two games of the three-match series on September 22.
Rohit Sharma disclosed the reason for dropping Kuldeep Yadav in the first two matches against Australia. Kuldeep’s prowess with spin was on display throughout the Asia Cup is now going to miss the first two games of India’s three-match ODI series due to the risk of not exposing him a lot before the ODI World Cup. Opposition batters were at Kuldeep’s mercy as he scalped 9 wickets in 5 games at an average of 11.44 and an economy of 3.61. But considering India’s first game of the World Cup is against Australia, the Indian skipper is not willing to let the opposition have time with Kuldeep on the field before the action-packed tournament begins. “Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, we all know that. But we thought of a lot of things and took this call. His bowling is going well, like Ajit [Agarkar] said, we had to give players a chance, especially those who played just one game at the Asia Cup and are in the World Cup squad,” Rohit said at a press conference.
In place of Kuldeep, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar have made their place to provide India with further options as all-rounder Axar Patel continues to recover from his injury. The third match squad is similar to India’s World Cup squad with Ashwin and Sundar still retaining their place in the squad.
Rohit feels that Ashwin’s lack of game time in the format won’t be a concern as he has been representing the nation in the Test format. With Axar Patel’s recent injury just before the World Cup, the experienced spinner will have a chance to push his name in India’s squad for the mega tournament. Ashwin barely has featured in the 50-over format, in the past six years he has featured in two ODI games for the Indian team. “With guys like Ashwin, game-time and time on the ground is not so much of a concern. Which is why we thought if he is an option for us, we need to get him in. With the kind of experience he has, for guys like him, it’s all in the head more than the body.” Rohit said.
India squad for first 2 ODI: KL Rahul (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja (Vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
India squad for final ODI: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj.
