AUSTRALIAN cricket fans could be watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in an ODI for the last time when India tour Australia for a three-match series starting in Perth on Sunday.
Between them, Kohli, 36, and Rohit, 38, have played close to 600 one-day internationals. Both are currently active only in the 50-over format, but their future beyond this series remains uncertain.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir did not comment when asked this week whether the two senior players would continue under new ODI captain Shubman Gill, who will lead the side for the first time in Australia.
Kohli and Rohit last featured for India in the Champions Trophy final in March, when they defeated New Zealand.
If this turns out to be their final international series, the pair will play in front of large Indian-origin crowds in Perth, Adelaide (October 23), and Sydney (October 25).
Several Australian Test players, including batter Travis Head and pacers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, will use the ODI series as preparation for the upcoming Ashes.
The matches will mark Starc’s first appearance in international cricket this Australasian summer after his T20 retirement.
Marnus Labuschagne, drafted in to replace injured all-rounder Cameron Green, will look to continue his strong red-ball form in the white-ball format to strengthen his case for an Ashes recall.
Labuschagne, who was dropped from the Test squad for the West Indies tour, has returned to form with consecutive centuries in the Sheffield Shield for Queensland.
Cricket Australia said on Friday that Green had been ruled out of the ODI series due to “low grade side soreness” sustained in training and would likely return for domestic cricket.
He joins captain Pat Cummins on the sidelines, with Cummins yet to recover from lower back bone stress that could keep him out of the start of the Ashes.
Australia will also miss wicketkeeper Alex Carey for the Perth opener against India, along with spinner Adam Zampa.
Josh Philippe will take the gloves, while left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann gets a rare opportunity in Zampa’s absence.
The ODI series will be followed by a five-match T20I series starting in Canberra on October 29 as both teams prepare for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year.
(With inputs from Reuters)
