The Indian cricket team is basking in unprecedented glory.
Virat Kohli and company became the first Indian team to win a Test series in Australia – a feat not achieved in 71 prior years of playing Test cricket Down Under – by completing a 2-1 victory in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a rain-affected draw in the final Test at Sydney.
The non-stop cricket calendar, however, ensures Team India’s attention must immediately turn to coloured clothing again, with a three-match ODI series to conclude the two-month long tour of Australia beginning on Saturday, January 12.
While eight of the 16-man squad selected for the 50-overs contest were part of the history-making Test team, the remainder of the ODI unit has taken the flight to join their teammates Down Under.
Team India members Kedar Jadhav and Khaleel Ahmed tweeted pictures ahead of their departure for the ODI leg of India’s tour of Australia on Monday, 7 January, flanked by senior pros MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
Vice-captain and batting mainstay Rohit was actually part of the Test squad, but flew home after the Melbourne Test for the birth of his first child – a baby girl who the proud parents have named Samaira.
Rohit aside, the eight players joining the rest of the squad for the one-dayers are Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed and Mohammed Siraj.
Siraj wasn’t originally named in the squad for the Australia ODIs, but was called up after the Indian team management opted to rest Jasprit Bumrah following his gruelling workload during the Test series, where his 21 wickets played an instrumental role in India’s maiden triumph on Australian soil.
Of the eight additions to the ODI squad, three – Dhawan, Karthik and Chahal – were part of the Indian squad for the tour-opening T20I series in Australia, a three-match rubber which was shared 1-1.
The non-Test players spent the past month in varying manners: while Chahal used the time off for a vacation, Dhawan regularly shared posts of him training during the break.
Dhoni, as usual, was winning the internet with any and all posts of his interactions with daughter Ziva.
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