IND vs AUS, 1st ODI: Shubman Gill lauds Virat, Rohit ahead of opening contest, says 'I used to idolise them'

Shubman Gill is all set to make his ODI captaincy debut as India take on Australia in the opening contest on Sunday (Oct 19) at the Optus Stadium in Perth. In what will serve as the return game for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Indian set-up, the Men in Blue will be prepared to give their best in the first of three ODI matches on Sunday. Leading into the contest, new captain Gill was full of praise for Virat and Rohit, stating he idolised them in his early days and looks forward to taking captaincy tips from them.

Gill praises Rohit, Virat

"I mean, obviously, these are the kind of players I used to idolise when I was growing up. The kind of hunger that they had used to inspire me. It is a big honour for me to be able to lead such legends of the game. I am sure there would be so many moments in this series where I would be able to learn from them. If I get in a difficult position, I wouldn't shy away from taking advice from them," Gill said on the eve of the opening ODI in Perth.

Sunday’s contest will be the first time since March when Rohit and Virat will take the field donning the Indian jersey. The duo was absent from the England and West Indies series, having called time on their red-ball career in May. They had already retired from the T20I format after the conclusion of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

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When the team for the Australia series was announced, Rohit was dropped as captain but included in the squad for the ODI series. The captain’s armband was passed on to Gill, who was promoted to the role while already serving as the Test team captain. He was also elevated to the T20I team’s vice-captain role.

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India ODI squad vs Australia

Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.