Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team will play their first international game since the Coronavirus outbreak when they take on arch rivals Australia in the first ODI game on Friday at Sydney International Stadium.
Ind vs Aus: Virat Kohli Opens Up On His Decision To Withdraw From Last Three Test Games
Indian captain Virat Kohli will not play the last three Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia as the flamboyant skipper had sought permission from the BCCI to return after playing the first match of the Test series against Australia in December for the birth of their first child, which has been approved. In the absence of Kohli, Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead the national squad.
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Kohli will captain India in the three-match ODI and T20 series but will return to India after playing the first day-night match of the Test series in Adelaide. Ahead of the 1st ODI vs Australia, Virat Kohli in a virtual press conference opened up on his decision to take paternity leave and made some interesting revelations!
Here's the video...
Will Injured Rohit Sharma Play Ind vs Aus Test Series? Here's What Virat Kohli had To Say!
When Team India will play against Aaron Finch and Co. in the first ODI, they will not have a very important player in their playing XI as their star opener Rohit Sharma, who is nursing a hamstring injury, will not be part of it. Ishant and Rohit are currently undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
In the presser, Virat also talked about Rohit's injury and said: We've been playing the waiting game on the issue (Rohit Sharma's injury) for a while now & this is not ideal at all. It's been very confusing & there's been lot of uncertainty & lack of clarity around the situation.
Prior to the ODI series starting on 27 November, India played the last two ODI series on Australian soil in 2016 and 2018. In the series played in 2016, the hosts won 4–1, while in 2018 Team India won 2–1. If we look at the figures of both these series, Rohit was the highest run-scorer.
Ind vs Aus 2020: Virat Kohli Reacts To Passing Away Of Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, one of the greatest footballers of all time, died at the age of 60, plunging his sport and his native Argentina into mourning. The football icon died yesterday November 25th, 2020, after suffering a cardio-respiratory arrest at his home in the Tigre district on the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires in Argentina. A three-day national mourning has been announced in Argentina after Maradona's death.
Reacting to the death of Argentinian football legend, Virat said "We've lost a genius."
The India vs Australia 1st One-Day-International match will take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday, which will also be the first time that men's cricket will see spectators in the stadium since March when all sporting activities came to a halt after the dreaded Covid-19 outbreak all across the globe.