Gill Stumps All With Playing XI Announcement Despite Kohli, Rohit's Return

India captain Shubman Gill left many fans surprised as he handed over the team sheet at the time of the toss during the first ODI against Australia at Perth on Sunday. Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir made the bold move of leaving out Kuldeep Yadav from the team while picking as many as three all-rounders in the playing XI for the series opener. The likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel made the cut, as India picked three all-rounders for the game, a move that left many surprised.

Kuldeep was one of India's finest performers in the recently concluded Test series (against West Indies, implied), yet found no place in the playing XI for the opening ODI against Australia. The fact that India went ahead with three all-rounders, while deciding to bench a pure spinner, explains where the team's focus lies. 

"We would have bowled first as well. It's all about getting mentally ready. We are in a good mental place. The practice sessions help. We have a great combination. Nitish Reddy makes his debut; we are going with three fast bowlers and three all-rounders," Gill said at the time of the toss.

Gill's counterpart, Mitchell Marsh, on the other hand, confirmed that the team has handed two debut caps ahead of the start of the game.

"We're going to bowl first. It looks like a pretty good wicket; hopefully, it's hard and fast. There's a little bit of moisture around, so hopefully we can make the most of that today. It's always a huge honour to captain the country, but to do it in front of a somewhat home crowd, it's always exciting. (Preparation) It's been great. The guys got in on Wednesday. We've had three great days of training. It's always a big build-up, Australia versus India, and what's going to be a huge summer for Australian cricket. So, hopefully we can get off to a good start. (Morale) It's great. We've got some good young players, lots of power, so it's going to be hopefully exciting and entertaining. Seven batters, one keeper, and four bowlers... six batters? Anyway, I'm not good at maths,"

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (w), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh

Australia Playing XI: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe (w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood

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