Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has revealed his preferred playing XI for India’s first ODI against Australia in Perth, scheduled for Sunday, October 19. The Shubman Gill-led side will look to begin the three-match series on a strong note after recent squad reshuffles.
Pathan backed Rohit Sharma to return as opener alongside captain Shubman Gill, with Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul forming a solid middle order. He also picked Nitish Kumar Reddy and Axar Patel as the two all-rounders, offering balance in both departments.
Irfan Pathan Backs Harshit Rana’s Inclusion
In the bowling attack, Irfan selected Kuldeep Yadav as the lone spinner, while Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh will lead the pace department. Notably, he included 23-year-old Harshit Rana, praising his dual ability with bat and ball.
“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒕. 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇,” 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍.
The 40-year-old also stressed that the Australia series will be a big test for Shubman Gill as captain, especially in managing senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑨 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
Irfan Pathan’s predicted India XI for 1st ODI vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
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