The team management has chosen to rest Shubman Gill and Shardul Thakur ahead of the last ODI against Australia in Rajkot. The two will instead join the team in Guwahati, where India will start their ODI World Cup 2023 campaign, rather than traveling to Rajkot, the site of the third game.
The second ODI between India and Australia saw a century from Shubman Gill, his sixth overall and fifth this calendar year. With that, Shubman was all set to dethrone Babar Azam as the ne World No 1 ODI batter. But that the youngster has been rested, Babar will continue his dominance as the World No 1.
In addition to two hundreds this year against New Zealand, Shubman Gill also has one hundred each against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
This year, he also scored a T20I century. With 1230 runs in 20 innings at an average of 72.35 and a strike rate of 105.03, Shubman Gill leads all ODI scorers in 2023.
Gill played at his home ground in Mohali for the first time as an India cricket player during the first ODI against Australia.
For a while now, the team management has been organizing the workload management. Virat Kohli and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma missed the first two ODIs because of it. At Rajkot, both senior players will join the squad.
Jasprit Bumrah missed the second ODI because of rest. He visited his family and was given a brief vacation by the team management, the BCCI had tweeted. For the second ODI, fast bowler Mukesh Kumar entered the squad in place of Bumrah. Bumrah will be a part of the squad for the last ODI in Rajkot.
The Indian team will have a lengthy World Cup campaign because they will play in nine different cities. Prior to the important ICC competition, the team management has been looking for ways to keep their players fresh.