Perth: Even amid the emotional theme of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s return to India fold, Shubman Gill’s maiden outing as full-time ODI skipper provides an equally compelling narrative to the first one-dayer against Australia here on Sunday.
Kohli and Rohit are coming back to national colours after playing the Champions Trophy in March, and the dynamics of Indian cricket has changed irrevocably in these seven months. The cricketing ecosystem has learned to survive the prolonged absence of Kohli and Rohit — at least in two formats — in this interim period. So, what do these two veteran batters now have to offer to the side?
Before delving into that question, let’s be clear about it — Kohli and Rohit will be counted among the greatest one-day batters across the eras and by any yardstick.
It might just be a blessing for them that their return coincided with a series against Australia, a team that had cathartic influence during the course of their long careers.
But unlike Kohli, Rohit needs to come to terms with his new role of being just a senior player.
Future is what Gill is expected to shape. But he will always have the looming figures of Kohli and Rohit behind him.
Teams
India:Shubman Gill (c), 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.