The Indian men’s cricket team departed from New Delhi for Australia on Wednesday morning for an upcoming white-ball series featuring three ODIs and five T20Is. The tour marks the return of batting veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to international cricket, with Shubman Gill leading the ODI squad as the new captain.Click here to watch the video
The ODI series will begin on Sunday at the Optus Stadium in Perth, followed by matches on October 23 and 25. The T20I series will run from October 29 to November 8.Key players spotted at the Delhi airport included captain Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna.Kohli and Sharma were last seen in action during the Champions Trophy, where India maintained an unbeaten run. Rohit Sharma was named Player of the Match in the final for his impressive 76 runs off 83 balls.
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Both veterans have now become one-format players after retiring from T20Is following India’s T20 World Cup victory in Barbados. They also chose to step away from Test cricket ahead of the England tour.Chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Rohit Sharma has been relieved of his captaincy duties, with the leadership now transferred to Shubman Gill. Sharma will continue to play solely as a batsman in the ODI format.The ODI squad for Australia includes 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), and Yashasvi Jaiswal.The T20I squad comprises 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, and Washington Sundar.The leadership change is particularly significant as the team looks ahead to the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
