ODI World Cup - Shubman Gill feeling better, medics haven't ruled him out for Sunday's game: Rahul Dravid

India's batter in supreme form, Shubman Gill is unwell and said to miss the home team's first game in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. However, the Indian Coach and veteran cricketer, Rahul Dravid, offered hopes by saying, Gill is "feeling better than yesterday" and the medical team is monitoring him, we've got 36 hours to go (for the game).

Queried on whether Gill would be in a condition to play the game on Sunday, Dravid said, "the medical team hasn't ruled him out yet".

India will take on Australia at Chennai's MA Chidambaram stadium on 8th October, in what will be the opening game for both teams.

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Having arrived in Chennai on Wednesday noon, the Indian and Australian teams commenced net practice sessions at the stadium on Thursday, while Gill had to give these sessions a miss, owing to his poor health as the home team's first game in the World Cup, Sunday's game is much awaited.

With the ODI format and its relevance being debated about, after the average footfall at the inaugural England vs. New Zealand game in Ahmedabad, Sunday's game is expected to show the enthusiasm that a team India game generates in the stadium and off it.

Speaking of the hectic travel and demanding World Cup schedule across ten-Indian cities, Dravid said he saw it as a great opportunity for the Indian team to perform before the home crowd and showcase their talent.

Queried about the ideal score for the India-Australia game, Rahul mentioned he saw no ideal score and teams would have to "adapt and react", as there was no template of a safe total. On the larger tournament, he elaborated on the red soil and black soil conditions at different pitches across venues and how each one posed a unique challenge.

On the dwindling popularity of the ODI format, Dravid said the Indian team hasn't played a lot of ODI Cricket in recent times. He listed out the T20 tournaments that had to be played in quick succession and also the impact of COVID as being some of the probable factors.

"It (ODI) is a fantastic format to play - how much will be decided by a variety of factors..." he said.

He also described how ODIs brought out the best in players and cited the example of Indian pacer Mohammad Siraj's six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the final game of the recently concluded Asia Cup ODI series.

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Interestingly, in the 1987 Cricket World Cup, the first match of the tournament was held in Chennai and it was an India-Australia clash. Defending champions India lost the hard-fought game to Australia, by a margin of one run. Batting first, the Aussies notched up 270 in 50 overs.

In fact, there was a dispute over whether the final ball went for a four or for a six. It is said that the umpire signalled a four and the Aussies were unhappy. When the umpire consulted the Indian skipper Kapil Dev, he is said to have allowed it to be considered a six.

While India had a great chase and made it to 207/2, wickets started falling rapidly and India were struggling at 265/9.

In the penultimate ball of the last over, the final Indian wicket fell when the scorecard read 269.

It was a hard-fought match and the winning margin was a single run. Later in that tournament, Australia were crowned champions.

In September 2017, at an ODI against Australia in Chennai, the hosts had defeated the visitors by 26 runs. Many Indian fans saw this as a fitting response to the 1987 game, at the same venue.

In March 2023, when India and Australia played an ODI in the city, the visitors managed to defeat the hosts by 21 runs and bagged the series 2-1. Such is the legacy of India-Australia ODI games in Chennai!

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