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For captain Pat Cummins, it is "disappointing" to miss India's white-ball tour of Australia, which would possibly be batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's last appearance in Down Under.
Rohit and Virat departed for Australia with the first batch of Indian players ahead of the ODI series opener in Perth on Sunday. The fixture will mark India's first encounter with Australia since the 2023 World Cup final, which brought heartbreak and the return of the star duo to international cricket. Since lifting the Champions Trophy in March, Rohit and Virat bid farewell to the Test format and remained out of commission for the next six months. With the duo pulling the curtains down on the T20Is last year, following the famous T20 World Cup win in Barbados, the 50-over format is now what fans get to witness them dazzle with their class. "Virat and Rohit have been part of almost every Indian side for the last 15 years, so this might be the last chance for the Australian public to see them playing out here. They've obviously been champions of the game for India and are always very well supported. Whenever we play them, the crowd gets loud," Cummins told JioHotstar. Cummins, who led Australia in the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, won't return to lead the side as he continues to recover from a lumbar bone stress in his lower back. Mitchell Marsh has assumed the duty in Cummins' stead. The 32-year-old speedster believes it is a shame to miss the white-ball series against the modern-day juggernauts. "It's a shame to miss the white-ball series against India. I think the crowds are going to be huge. There's already a lot of excitement built up here in Australia. So, whenever you miss a game, it's disappointing. But missing a big series like this is always a bit harder to take," Cummins added. India's ODI squad for Australia: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal. (ANI)
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