India vs Australia 3rd ODI: Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur likely to ...

25 Sep 2023

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Indian cricket team is in great form ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023 with all players showing best performances. The top news about India's form is that both batting and bowling units are looking in great shape and how India destroyed Australia in the second ODI displays that united effort. Despite not having big names in the playing XI like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian team crushed Australia by 99 runs in a rain-disrupted match.

Also Read: India vs Australia 2nd ODI Highlights

It is no longer news if Shubman Gill displays great performance. Like the first ODI, Shubman Gill started strong and played a 200-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer to take India's total score to great heights. Following great performances in both ODIs, Shubman Gill has been asked to rest and will now meet India in the ICC World Cup 2023. With him, Shardul Thakur will also remain missing from third ODI, as per a report by news platform The Indian Express.

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This goes well with the management's plan of resting some players ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. In the first two ODIs skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav rested. "Luckily we got a fair amount of cricket at the Asia Cup. If not, we would've looked at it some other way. More than physical, sometimes guys need a mental break, which isn't a bad thing leading into a tournament like the World Cup," BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar said.

Suspense continues over Axar Patel's fitness

One not-so-good news for the Indian team in all this is Axar Patel not getting completely fit. He was injured in the Asia Cup 2023 and the team planned to include him in the Australia series owing to his fitness, but now it is confirmed that he will not play the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot. Axar Patel's absence in the Australia series clouds his chances in the ICC World Cup 2023 as he is part of the squad.

In case Axar Patel gets ruled out of ICC World Cup 2023 then India might look towards Ravichandran Ashwin whose wonderful spell last night provided the team with more confidence. Ravichandran Ashwin also qualifies the team's undeclared criteria of someone who can bat on number 8.

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Updated: 25 Sep 2023, 03:42 PM IST