Fresh off their Asia Cup victory, the Indian cricket team is enjoying a mini break before the ODI series between India and Australia begins on Friday. Star batsman Virat Kohli was part of the Asia Cup but he has been rested for the first two ODIs of the three-match series against Australia. On Tuesday, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, wife and actor of former Indian cricket team captain, celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi and performed Puja. Actor Karishma Kapoor wished them on the occasion.
A day after the Indian cricket team’s victory in the Asia Cup, the squad for the Australian ODI series was announced on Monday. There were several surprises in the squad for the three-ODI series. The biggest one is the return of Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played an ODI in January 2022. In another surprise, the team management rested the star trio – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya – for a series seen as the final dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
The trio along with Kuldeep Yadav were present in the first two ODIs while they will make a comeback in the third ODI. BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who announced the selection, was asked by a journalist about the reason behind resting the stars before ‘Bharat Darshan’ at the World Cup. The reference ‘Bharat Darshan’ was given as India will be the most traveled team in the ODI Cricket World Cup as it will play all its group stage matches in different cities.
Agarkar gave a deft answer to the question. “Rohit (Sharma) and Virat (Kohli) have always been there and obviously Hardik is an important player for us, we want to manage him,” he said.
“Kuldeep is in great form. It also gives us a chance to look at some of the other guys. That’s the point. Luckily we got quite a bit of cricket in the Asia Cup.
“If that wasn’t the case, we might have looked at it in a different way. At some point, more than just physically, sometimes guys need a mental break, which isn’t such a bad thing in the run-up to the tournament (Cricket World Cup).
“But when the third game comes around, everyone will be available to play. We will be playing our World Cup squad. It does give us the opportunity to play against other guys who have been sitting out and it has been a strong team.” said BCCI Chief. selector Ajit Agarkar.
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