On Tuesday, October 7, former India captain and veteran of the game, Rohit Sharma made his first public appearance after being snubbed of ODI captaincy. The 38-year-old, who remains active only in the 50-over format, retired from T20Is last year after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in Barbados and Test cricket in May this year. While he was set expected to continue at the helm in the ODIs, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently axed him of the ODI captaincy as they look at an all-format captain.
While the upcoming Australia tour is of utmost importance, it all the more will see the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom have been out of competitive cricket from long now. Despite Rohit’s presence, Shubman
Gill has been named the ODI captain with Shreyas Iyer taking the deputy role.
I do understand what to expect: Rohit Sharma ahead of Australia tour
Speaking at the first time after captaincy snub, Rohit did not speak of the same, but highlighted of the Australian challenge and expressed excitement on his return. Joining the cricketing fraternity at the CEAT Cricket Awards, Rohit said, “I love playing against them. I love going to Australia. It’s a very challenging country to play cricket. People there love the game as well. But certainly, Australia is a different challenge every time they have played against us.”
“Having been there now several times, I do understand what to expect. Hopefully we can go there and do what the Indian team is supposed to do and get the result in our favour," he further added.
India’s ODI squad for Australia series:
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.
