MELBOURNE: Australian cricket fans may have their last chance to see India batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in action when the pair tour in the one day international (ODI) series starting in Perth Sunday.
Boasting almost 600 ODIs between them, both 36-year-old Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit are active internationally only in the 50-overs format but their future beyond the three-match series is uncertain.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir was tight-lipped when asked this week whether the duo might continue on under new captain Shubman Gill, who leads the ODI squad for the first time in Australia.
Rohit and Kohli last played for India in the Champions Trophy final in March in which they beat New Zealand.
If Australia is to be their last taste of international cricket, it will be in front of crowds packed with fans from the country’s booming Indian communities in Perth, Adelaide (October 23) and Sydney (October 25). A number of Test players in the Australia squad, including batter Travis Head and veteran pacemen, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, will use the series to loosen up for the Ashes.
It will Starc’s first start in international cricket in the Australasian summer, having retired from T20s.
