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Shubman Gill loses toss in 1st ODI as captain; Kohli, Rohit and co asked to bat first in Perth

Debashis Sarangi

Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first [Source: @BCCI/X]Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first [Source: @BCCI/X]

In a significant development, Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first ODI of the three-match series against India at Perth Stadium. At toss, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh stated that his side would bowl first in order to make the most of the conditions. 

IND vs AUS 1st ODI playing XIs: Nitish Reddy makes ODI debut

Former Indian captain Rohit Sharma handed Nitish Kumar Reddy his maiden ODI cap. He becomes the 260th cricketer to play an ODI for India. In another bold move, India have picked Washington Sundar over Kuldeep Yadav, who showcased remarkable form in the Asia Cup. 

Meanwhile, with Josh Inglis injured, Australia have roped in Matt Renshaw to fill his void in the middle order. Matthew Short has been picked over Marnus Labuschagne due to his all-round prowess. Cooper Connolly and Mitchell Owen also make it into the team as all-rounders, with the familiar trio of Starc, Hazlewood and Ellis set to spearhead Australia's fast bowling.  

India's playing XI: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj

Australia's playing XI: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Short, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood

IND vs AUS Toss Update: What did the captains say?

"We will have a bowl first. Looks like a pretty good Perth stadium wicket. Hopefully it's hard and fast. A little bit of moisture about so hopefully we can make the most of it. [on leading the side at home] It's always a huge honour leading the country. Doing it in front of a somewhat home crowd is always an exciting day. [Preparations] It's been great. The guys got in on Wednesday, had great days of training. It's always a big build up Australia versus India in what's gonna be a huge summer for Australian cricket," Mitchell Marsh was quoted as saying by CREX.
"[Transition in side] It's great. You get young guys that come in and they're obviously loving the opportunity of playing for Australia. We've got some good young players, it's gonna be hopefully an exciting and entertaining game," the Australian captain added. 

"We would've bowled first as well. Looking at the weather, it might be a stop-start game. It looks like a pretty good surface, so hopefully we get enough runs on the board. Yeah, we had a really good preparation. It's all about getting mentally ready. Most of the players were playing in India. We travelled all the way over here and had couple of days practice," Shubman Gill said.
"We are in a good mental space. The practice sessions obviously help us in adjusting to the conditions. We have got a great combination. Some of them are experienced players. We have gun players in our team. Nitish Kumar Reddy makes his Debut. We are going with 3 fast bowlers and 3 all-rounders," he added. 

IND vs AUS toss: Who got the advantage?

Considering the overcast conditions and the seam-friendly nature of the pitch at Perth Stadium, we reckon Australia definitely got the early edge of winning the toss. The venue has also favoured the chasing sides more than the teams who have batted first. Statistically, the chasing teams have won two out of three ODIs in Perth. So, expect challenging conditions for the batters early on, as the Australian seamers will likely pose serious threat to the Indian lineup in these conditions.