AUS v IND: Nitish Kumar Reddy makes ODI debut as Australia opt to bowl

Perth: Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first against India here at the Optus Stadium in the first ODI of the three-match series.

With India’s ace cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma returning to action, the visitors will be hoping to clinch the three-match bilateral series to mark Shubman Gill’s maiden series victory as the captain of the side.

Mitch Marsh is leading Australia in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins, who was ruled out owing to a stress fracture in his back.

Upon winning the toss, Marsh said, “Looks like a pretty good wicket. Hopefully it’s fast. It’s always a huge honour leading your country. Hope we get off to a good start. The morale is great. We have some good young players. Seven batters, one wicketkeeper and four bowlers.”

Leading the side in his first assignment as an ODI captain, Gill said, “We would have bowled first as well. It’s all about getting mentally ready. We are in a good mental place. The practice sessions help. We have a great combination. Nitish Reddy makes his debut, we are going with three fast bowlers and three all-rounders.”

The head-to-head between the two teams since 2020 has been close, with Australia winning seven games and India just ahead with eight wins.

The two sides last faced off in an ODI during the Champions Trophy 2025, where India defeated Australia in the tournament’s semi-final to seal their spot in the final before eventually clinching the trophy.

India have won only one ODI bilateral series in Australia before, when they beat the Men in Yellow 2-1 by clinching back-to-back wins in the second and third games after losing the series opener.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe (wk), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood

–IANS