Shubman Gill expressed his excitement about leading senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the forthcoming three-match ODI series in Australia, which starts on Sunday.
“I think we have been playing one of our best in ODIs in past 2-3 years. Nothing changes for us. It’s more or less the same team that we’re playing.
“They (Virat and Rohit) have won so many matches for us in the past. They’ve been playing for India for the past 10-15 years. Winning matches for us is an experience that we bring to the table. It’s something every captain of every team wants,” Gill asserted after India’s victory against the West Indies in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“That’s what we’re looking forward to. We just want them to go out there and do their magic.”
When asked if he enjoyed playing in different formats, Gill replied, “That was new for me. But I think going back to the basics of a particular format is something that I think works for me.
“It’s something (the basics) that I go back to,” added Gill, who is the vice-captain of India’s T20 International side.
In 50 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against Australia across his career, Kohli has amassed 2451 runs at an average of 54.46 and a strike rate of 93.69, with a career-high score of 123. Eight of his 51 ODI hundreds have come against the Australians.
Kohli has a strong ODI record in Australia as well, having played 29 games and amassed 1327 runs, including an undefeated 133 as the highest score. He has a strike rate of 89.06 and an average of 51.03 with 5 tons in Australia.
Rohit has played 46 ODIs against Australia scoring 2407 runs at an average of 57.30 and a strike rate of 96.01. Rohit has scored 8 hundreds against the Aussies and the first of his three double hundreds (209) came against Australia in 2013.
In Australia, Rohit has scored 1328 runs in 30 ODIs at an average of 53.12 and a strike rate of 90.58, with a highest score of an unbeaten 171.
On October 19, the opening ODI of the series will take place in Perth. The second and third ODIs are scheduled for October 23 and October 25.
Following this, from October 29 to November 8, a five-match Twenty20 International series will be played, but that will not feature Virat and Rohit as they had retired from the shortest format of the game after India’s title triumph in the T20 World Cup in 2024.
The batting superstars had retired from the Test format just before the England tour and had last played for India in the successful Champions Trophy campaign.
