Hardik Pandya will be seen spearheading the India's pack in the ODI opener against Australia which will be played at the Wankhede Stadium on March 17 (Friday). The regular skipper Rohit Sharma will miss out the first ODI due to personal reasons as this will be the first time Hardik will lead Men in Blue in the One Day Internationals.
Hardik has been India's regular in the shortest format of the game as he also replaced KL Rahul as team's vice-captain after the T20 World Cup.
In the pre-match press conference Hardik revealed Shubman Gill's for the ODI opener against Australia and put a halt to the burning debate between Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul. The star India all-rounder confirmed Kishan as Gill's opening partner for the first ODI.
"Ishan and Shubman will be opening the innings. The wicket looks how it does throughout the year. I have been playing here for almost seven years. It is going to be challenging because this wicket will give equal opportunities to both the sides," Pandya said on Thursday (March 16).
High on spirit Gill struck a splendid century in the fourth Test against Australia and team will expect him to go all guns blazing in the ODI fixture as well. Gill has clobbered three centuries in his last six ODIs has was India's highest ODI run-getter in the 2022/23 season with 755 runs for India.
Meanwhile Kishan belted a record double ton in an ODI match against Bangladesh of late. But Rahul's form has been a matter of concern for India as he has been consistently misfiring across formats.
In the recent times, the Men in Blue have been invincible in the bilateral series but hasn't managed to end their ICC trophy drought.
"I don't think we have tried anything new. We will be trying to be a little brave which I think in the last couple of series we have done quite well. All these bilaterals are as challenging, they can get as close to the wire as they can. That is the only way we are going to learn and start playing under pressure of knockouts (in ICC tournaments). (But) we don't need to look at that right now, the past is past and we are hoping for the best things to come," Pandya added.
India's squad for ODI series: Rohit Sharma (c), Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Washington Sundar, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia's squad for ODI series: Steve Smith (c) Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
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