India Plays An ODI Without MS Dhoni And Virat Kohli For The First Time Since 2015
Jan 31, 2019 at 8:28 AM
Rohit Sharma came out for toss before the start of the ongoing fourth One-Day International between India and New Zealand at Hamilton. The opening batsman is donning the captain’s hat because of the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli who has been rested for the remainder of the tour. India have already won the five-match series by winning the first three games of the series. With form and momentum on India’s side, Rohit will be aiming to continue the team’s winning run.
However, he might not find it easy as the team will be without two of their biggest names – Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. While Kohli is rested for the remaining games in New Zealand, Dhoni is missing the game due to an injury.
The veteran batsman had suffered a hamstring injury in the second ODI and missed the third. However, there were speculations that he would return to the playing eleven after being seen practising in the nets along with his teammates on Wednesday.
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Snapshots from #TeamIndia's training session ahead of the 4th ODI against New Zealand #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/KTmYgLwK5n
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 30, 2019
Speaking at the toss, Rohit confirmed that Dhoni had not recovered yet and so missed out. The skipper also said that young Shubman Gill would make his debut in the game.
“It’s been special (200th ODI). Long journey, plenty of ups and down. Couple of changes, Shubman Gill replaces Kohli, Khaleel Ahmed replaces Shami. MS is still not fit. He has shown a lot of promise (Gill), he has played here and was the Man of the Series in the U-19 World Cup. Highly rated and we wanted to see what he could offer to the team. We would have batted first anyway, the motivation is high and it’s important to give your best when you wear the India colours,” said Rohit who is playing his 200th ODI.
The game, nonetheless, saw the first instance of Team India playing without Dhoni and Kohli since the tour of Zimbabwe in 2015 when both the players were rested.