The Indian Cricket team is all set to have a go at Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series, starting from January 10. The Indian team will be led by regular captain Rohit Sharma, who is making a return after recovering from an injury during the tour of Bangladesh. However, the Indian captain has made a big revelation ahead of the ODI series opener against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday's ODI, Sharma confirmed that Shubman Gill is set to get a fair amount of run in ODIs, while Ishan Kishan will have to sit out in the upcoming ODIs. "Both openers have done really well. But looking at how both openers have gone through, it's fair that we give Gill a chance to have a good run," Sharma said.
Also, Sharma opened on the last-minute withdrawal of Jasprit Bumrah from the entire ODI series. Bumrah was ruled out of the series as according to the BCCI, he required "some more time to build bowling resilience". Meanwhile, Sharma has stated that "Jasprit Bumrah felt stiffness while bowling at nets in National Cricket Academy". Earlier Bumrah was ruled out of the ODI series on Monday.
Notably, there was possibly a toss-up between Kishan and Gill to play in the ODIs. Both have been performing well for the Indian team in recent times. While Kishan scored a double-century in an ODI match against Bangladesh, Gill has also been a consistent performer. He scored a 50 and an unbeaten 45 against New Zealand in November.
"Gill has got a lot of runs in the last few games, and so has Ishan. I am not going to take anything away from him (Ishan). He's been wonderful for us, got a double hundred. And, I know what it takes to get a double hundred, it is a great achievement. But just to be honest and fair to the guys who have done really well before, we need to give those guys enough chances as well before we make that call," Sharma added.
Sharma said that Kishan will have to sit out. "It's unfortunate that we won't be able to play Ishan. But looking at how things have panned out for us in the last eight-nine months and how the ODIs have gone through for us, it's fair to give Gill that run and he's done extremely well in that position," Sharma said. He added that the Southpaw is not out of the scheme of things and he will get chances in the future. "Yes, Ishan is certainly going to miss out but it is very unfortunate. But that does not rule out anything. We are going to try and keep everyone in the mix and see how it pans out for us as we play a lot of games ahead," Sharma added.
India will take on Sri Lanka in the first ODI on 10th January at Guwahati. The second and third ODIs will be played on the 12th and 15th of January 2023, respectively.
