Nitish Kumar Reddy becomes first Indian player to make Test and ODI debut in Perth; gets ODI cap from Rohit Sharma

The India cricket team returned to the field just shortly after clean sweeping West Indies in a two-match Test series at home last week as they take on Australia in a white-ball series consisting of three ODIs and five T20Is. With the series kickstarting with ODI leg, the first ODI is being played at the Optus Stadium in Perth on October 19.

For the unversed, Mitchell Marsh-led Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first seeing the wicket with some bit of moisture aiding the bowlers. As a result, the Indian team was put to bat first. However, the Men in Blue did not have a start to cherish as they lost former skipper Rohit Sharma early. What followed was another disappointment as Virat Kohli was dismissed on eight-ball duck.

Nitish Kumar Reddy gets ODI debut cap from Rohit Sharma in Hardik Pandya’s absence

While the middle-order

will aim to put a fight, but rain came in and hampered the play in Perth. But prior to the start of the match, Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was handed his debut ODI cap from Rohit Sharma. While the feat was special for Reddy, who was also handed his Test debut in Perth.

With this, he became the first Indian player to make his Test and ODI debut in Perth. While Barinder Sran and Subroto Banerjee are the two Indians to make ODI debut in Perth, Reddy, along with R Vinay Kumar and Harshit Rana are three Indians to make their Test debuts in Perth.

Australia vs India 1st ODI Playing XI

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe(w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh