India will be without skipper Rohit Sharma for the first match of the all-important ODI series against Australia in March. This series will be India’s last assignment before the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which starts on March 31st.
On Sunday (February 19), after India named the squad for the series, the Board of Cricket in India (India) revealed that Rohit Sharma will not play the series opener on March 17 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. The Indian cricket governing body revealed that Hardik Pandya will lead the team in the Mumbai ODI. This will be the first time Hardik will captain India in the ODI format.
“Mr Rohit Sharma will be unavailable for the first ODI due to family commitments, and Mr Hardik Pandya will lead the side in the first ODI,” said the BCCI statement.
Hardik replaced KL Rahul as India’s ODI vice-captain during the Sri Lanka series. Rahul had led India in the away ODI series against South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2022, as well as the third ODI against Bangladesh.
When it comes to the squad, there was a big surprise when Jaydev Unadkat returned to the team after a 10-year absence. Undakat, who played his first Test match in 12 years in December against Bangladesh and is also a part of the red-ball team for the ongoing Test series, last played an ODI game in 2013 against the West Indies.
Meanwhile, there were no other major surprises as India continued to build momentum after winning back-to-back series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in January. With the 2023 ODI World Cup in sight, India look to have settled on a solid core.
Sanju Samson will have to wait for his international comeback after not being named in the ODI squad with Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul retaining the wicketkeeper’s slot.
India’s ODI squad against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, K L Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat.
