The Indian team management has decided to rest Shubman Gill and Shardul Thakur ahead of the last ODI against Australia in Rajkot according to reports in Indian Express. The two will join the team in Guwahati, where India will start their ODI World Cup campaign with a practice game against defending champions England on the 30th of September.
The team management has been extremely cautious in managing the workload of the players heading into the marquee event in the country, as they have rested the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav for the first two games of the series and the star players are expected to join the squad ahead of the final match against Australia on Wednesday.
The second ODI between India and Australia saw yet another century from Shubman Gill, as he went on to score his fifth ODI hundred in the year.
The 24-year-old has scored 1230 runs in 20 innings at an average of 72.35 and a strike rate of 105.03, being the World’s leading run-scorer in the ODI format of the game in 2023. Gill has emerged as one of India’s most promising and consistent batsmen in recent times and could be crucial for the team in the ODI World Cup.
Shardul Thakur had a forgettable outing in the first two games against Australia, as he looked like the only weak link in the Indian bowling lineup. The Mumbai-born fast bowling all-rounder went wicket-less in both games alongside his poor fielding effort on the field and the break from the final would help him to find his groove back in the game and come back stronger into going into the World Cup.
The Indian team will have a long World Cup campaign on home soil because they will play their matches in nine different cities. Before the important ICC competition, the team management had been looking for ways to keep their players fresh.
India will be looking to end their long-awaited ICC title drought on home soil after winning the Champions Trophy in 2013, as they failed to cross the knockout stages of the tournament post the victory under MS Dhoni in England and the Men in Blue would look to put their past performance behind to come good in the forthcoming ODI World Cup in India.