Shubman Gill made his debut as ODI captain of the Indian national cricket team in the first match of the three-match series against the Australian national cricket team on Sunday, October 19.
A heated match between the Indian national cricket team led by Shubman Gill and the Australian national cricket team led by Mitchell Marsh was held at Perth Stadium.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fail in comeback match
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s return to international cricket ended in disappointment as they failed to perform well in tough batting conditions.
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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be single-format players after their retirement from Test and T20I cricket and will feature only in 50-over matches, which are rare these days.
Kohli and Rohit have worked hard on their fitness and batting ahead of the Australia tour and this improvement has been confirmed by Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar.
Rohit lost 8-10 kg in order to be in tip-top shape, while Kohli continued to work on his body during his time away from competitive cricket to ensure that he holds the title of ‘fittest cricketer’.
The greatest batsman of modern times landed in Perth and wasted no time in the nets to ensure he acclimated to the Australian climate before the series.
In the first net session itself, Kohli looked very sharp. It didn’t look like he was out of the game for too long, as he timed his shot perfectly and found the back of the net.
However, that was not the case with Rohit Sharma, who initially looked hurt on the pitch. I didn’t start very well, but after spending some time in the middle, I got my rhythm back and started to feel better.
Meanwhile, the training and efforts of the batting legends went in vain as both failed to score in the opening ODI series. Rohit Sharma scored eight runs off 14 balls and Virat Kohli scored a duck.
On the fourth ball of the fourth over, Rohit parried a pass from Josh Hazlewood to Matt Renshaw, and Virat Kohli cleared Mitchell Starc into the hands of Cooper Connolly.
When you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you always try to play a comeback game – Shubman Gill
India could only score 136/9 while batting while Australia achieved a target of 131 in a battle for par side in 26 overs. Mitchell Marsh’s side chased the target with 29 balls remaining and won the match by seven wickets.
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Shubman Gill placed the blame for India’s disaster with the bat on himself, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He said:
“When you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you’re always trying to play a comeback game (against the rain delay and a bad start). There was a lot of learning from this game for us and a lot of positives for us as well.
We were very happy with it – Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill further said that he was very happy with the performance of the bowlers while chasing low scores and thanked the Indian fans who came in large numbers. he said:
“We defended 130 and won the game, not all the way, but pretty deep, and I was very happy with that.
“We’re very lucky (to have the crowd cheering). We had a lot of fans, so we hope they’ll be able to support us in Adelaide as well.”
Also read: Gautam Gambhir faces Shubman Gill in Perth after being named in shameful captain’s list along with Virat Kohli