IND vs AUS: KL Rahul to lead, Ashwin returns; five talking points in India's squad for Australia ODI series
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Image Source : Getty1 - Two squads for three games: India have named two squads for the three-match ODI series against Australia. They have named a 15-member team for the first two ODIs, giving rest to some big names and a 17-member team for the third ODI.
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2 - Rest to big guns: Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav are the players from the Asia Cup squad who are rested for the first two games. During the squad announcement on Monday, coach Ajit Agarkar stated that they wanted to give a break to the players and also wanted to try the ones, who have not played much in the Asia Cup.
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3 - KL Rahul to captain, new faces in: KL Rahul will be leading the Indian team in the first two ODIs in Sharma's absence. He will have Ravindra Jadeja as his deputy for the initial two games. Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin has been recalled in the ODI setup. Washington Sundar, who replaced Axar Patel in the Asia Cup final is also in the team. Ruturaj Gaikwad has also been called in.
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4 - Shreyas Iyer still in, Kishan set to bat in middle: Meanwhile, the team management has kept Shreyas Iyer in the squad despite him getting injured in the Asia Cup. Agarkar stated that Iyer is looking okay and he will have to go through these ODIs. Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan shall continue batting in the middle order as the team has called in Ruturaj Gaikwad for the first two games to open with Shubman Gill.
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5 - No rest for pacers: There is no rest for the premier pacers throughout the three ODIs. All four - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur feature in the complete series. Notably, Agarkar revealed that the team for the third ODI is similar to the World Cup one with just the addition of Ashwin and Sundar.