
On Monday (September 18), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced India's squads for the upcoming Australia ODIs, which kicks off on Friday (September 22). There were two squads announced as KL Rahul will lead in the opening two games with regular captain Rohit Sharma, along with vice-captain Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli and Kuldeep Yadav,returning for the final ODI. While R Ashwin's return has made heads turn, Yuzvendra Chahal continues to miss out and this has not been well-received by former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Axar Patel's injury, during the just-concluded Asia Cup, led to the return of Ashwin and Washington Sundar in the ODI squad.
However, Chahal's omission has left Harbhajan Singh baffled.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan said, “Yuzvendra Chahal should have been here. He has not been given an opportunity. It is beyond my understanding. Either he has fought with someone or he has said something to someone, I don't know. If we talk only about skill, his name should have been there in this team because a lot of Team India players are resting."
With his World Cup dreams looking bleak, Chahal has been busy representing Kent in County Cricket. Meanwhile, Ashwin and Sundar have a wonderful opportunity to perform well in the upcoming three ODIs and stake a claim in the CWC squad.
Talking about Axar, he is expected to recover and, hence, ispart of the squad for the final ODI (subject to fitness).
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Further, Bhajji opened up on the Australia series. He stated, "Team India have to continue the winning habit they developed in the Asia Cup. They have the ability to beat Australia as well. The team is slightly weak for the first two matches but I believe this slightly weak team can also come out on top against them."
“Australia were playing against South Africa and India were playing against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup. Australia are a different team. You will have to be at your best to beat Australia because they have decent batting till No. 7 or No. 8 and they have solid hitters,” Harbhajan further added.
India will enter the Australia ODIs on a positive note following the Asia Cup 2023 win. Australia, on the other hand, will look to build up strongly for the forthcoming ODI World Cup -- which starts on October 5 in India -- after a 2-3 series loss to South Africa, in the African nation.
For First two ODIs vs Australia:KL Rahul (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja (Vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
For third and final ODI vs Australia:Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, (Vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel*, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj.
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