MELBOURNE: Australian cricket fans may get their last chance to watch India’s batting stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in international matches when the pair tour in the one-day international series starting in Perth on Sunday.
With nearly 600 ODIs between them, both 36-year-old Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit only compete in the 50-overs format internationally, but their futures beyond the three-match series are uncertain.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir remained tight-lipped when asked this week whether the duo could continue under new captain Shubman Gill, who is leading the ODI side for the first time in Australia.
Rohit and Kohli last played for India in the Champions Trophy final in March, where they defeated New Zealand.
What will be Australia’s final taste of international cricket will be in front of a crowd packed with fans from the thriving Indian communities in Perth, Adelaide (October 23) and Sydney (October 25).
A number of Test players in the Australian squad, including batsman Travis Head and veteran pacemen Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, will use the series to loosen up ahead of the Ashes.
It will be Starc’s first start in international cricket in the Australasian summer after retiring from T20Is.
Marnus Labuschagne, a late call-up to replace injured all-rounder Cameron Green, will be hoping to convert his hot red-ball form into white-ball runs to continue his case for an Ashes recall.
Labuschagne was dropped from the Test side for the tour of the West Indies but has returned to contention with centuries in his last two Sheffield Shield matches for Queensland.
Cricket Australia said on Friday that Green had been ruled out of the ODI series after suffering “low-grade lateral pain” during training and was likely to return to play Shield cricket.
The all-rounder joins Pat Cummins on the sidelines as the regular skipper struggles to shake off lower back strain that has left him in doubt for the start of the Ashe.
Australia will also be without regular wicketkeeper Alex Carey for the Perth opener against India, along with spinner Adam Zampa.
Josh Philippe will be behind the stumps, while left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann will get a rare opportunity in the one-day squad in Zampa’s absence.
The ODIs precede a five-match T20I series starting on October 29 in Canberra as both countries prepare for the T20I World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year.
