Opening the batting together for the first time in an ODI, India captain Rohit Sharma and batter Shubman Gill have started on an affirmative note in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium today.
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Gill, who has been preferred as Sharma’s opening partner ahead of wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan, will have to further justify his selection in spite of averaging and striking at 57.25 and 99.13 respectively in his previous 15 ODI innings.
As far as the batters are concerned, India have done justice with Shreyas Iyer by picking him ahead of Suryakumar Yadav despite his heroic T20I form lately. Although all-rounder Washington Sundar hadn’t done anything bad in Bangladesh to be left out on Tuesday, he had to make way for vice-captain Hardik Pandya.
Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not playing today vs Sri Lanka?
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami returning to the ODI Playing XI after almost six months is the biggest positive with respect to India’s bowling unit in Guwahati.
Shami is leading a three-member pace attack which also consists of Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik with Arshdeep Singh warming the bench. Had fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah been playing, one out of Siraj or Malik would’ve accompanied Singh in the dressing room.
Speaking about an experienced campaigner in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, readers must note that the 32-year old player hasn’t played an international match since the tour of New Zealand in November. While all of Kumar’s latest matches for India have come in the shortest format, his last ODI dates back to almost a year ago.
With the Indian selectors not fond of providing rationales for leaving out players, there’s not much clarity as to why Kumar isn’t part of the current white-ball squads. That being said, there have been unconfirmed reports of the selectors moving on from Kumar in both T20Is and ODIs.
Kumar, who has played only seven ODIs since ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, has picked nine wickets at an average of 42.55, an economy rate of 5.80 and a strike rate of 44 in this period.
