India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that opener Shubman Gill, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pacer Mohammad Shami will not play in the third ODI against Australia which is slated to be held in Rajkot on September 26, 2023.
India already leads the three-ODI series 2-0 and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who had been rested for the first two matches, have joined the squad ahead of the third match.
Earlier reports had stated that apart from Akshar and Gill, Shardul Thakur also didn't travel to Rajkot from Indore, where the second ODI was played.
"We have got a lot of players who are sick, unavailable, some have gone home for personal reasons and some are rested. So, 13 players are available. Gill, Hardik, and Shami aren't playing. Axar is unavailable for this game. We have got 13 players to choose from, so there's a lot of uncertainty in the team,” Rohit Sharma said in a presser, quoted by cricket.com.
Akshar Patel is yet to recover from his left quad strain which he had picked in Asia Cup 2023. He was in the squad only for the final ODI subject to fitness. He was a part of India's original World Cup 15, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said while naming the squad for the Australia series that India was "hoping Akshar will be fit".
Agarkar had further pointed out that both R Ashwin and Washington Sundar would be the ready options to replace the left-handed all-rounder.
Rohit Sharma also spoke about R Ashwin and said: “We cannot take away the class and experience that Ashwin has. He bowled well and has got some variations up his sleeve. In case there is a chance, it works well for us because the backups are ready."
The third ODI will be the last bilateral match for India and Australia before they move ahead to the World Cup 2023 warmup games.
Here is the 13-member India squad for the third ODI v Australia:
Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
