The Shubman Gill-led India national cricket team faced off against the Mitchell Marsh-led Australia national cricket team in the third and final ODI of the series on Saturday, October 25.
India won the match by 9 wickets at the Sydney Cricket Ground to avoid a series whitewash and speaking after the game, Shubman Gill opened up on the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli showed batting masterclass
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma returned to international cricket in the series against the Australian team but were unable to perform well in the opening match of the ODI series at the Perth Stadium.
Rohit managed to recover from the setback with a brilliant innings of 73 runs in the second ODI in Adelaide, but that was not the case with Virat Kohli, who was out for the second consecutive duck in his ODI career.
However, both of them produced brilliant batting performances in the third ODI in Sydney and led India to a spectacular win. Chasing 237, they looked in complete control and stitched a partnership of 168* off 170 balls, with Rohit scoring 121* and Kohli scoring 74*.
With this performance, he also put an end to rumors of ODI retirement and kept his hopes alive for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027.
Will discuss after South Africa series-Shubman Gill
In the post-match press conference, Shubman Gill was asked whether Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli would be forced to play domestic cricket despite their heroics against Australia. He said that he will decide after the South Africa series. He said:
“There is not much difference left for the South Africa series. There is a little difference between the South Africa and New Zealand series. There will be discussions after the South Africa series.”
Gill further said, “Having Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as captain helps me. Whenever I have any doubt on the field, I can ask them anything.”
Notably, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar had earlier made participation in domestic cricket mandatory for Rohit and Kohli.
India lost the ODI series after losing the first two matches.
The Men in Blue had lost the three-match ODI series against the Australian team after consecutive defeats in the first two matches at Perth Stadium and Adelaide Oval.
This was Shubman Gill’s first ODI series as captain and he failed miserably in captaincy. In the first match of the ODI series, India lost by 7 wickets with 29 balls remaining.
That match was interrupted by rain as there were several interruptions and it became a 26-over match per side. Batting first, India had to struggle a lot and scored 136/9 on the board.
As DLS came into play, the target for Australia was reduced to 131 and they won the match easily on the back of good performances from Mitchell Marsh, Josh Philippe and Matt Renshaw.
Then, the action moved to Adelaide, where Australia once again got the better of India and won by 2 wickets with 22 balls to spare.
Batting first, India managed to post 264/9 on the board thanks to brilliant performances from former captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer – both of whom scored brilliant half-centuries.
Defending the total, the Indian bowlers got off to a good start but then the Australian batsmen took things over well and finished the match in 46.2 overs.
Also read: Virat Kohli becomes the highest run-scorer in the history of white-ball cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar
