Ashton Agar Returns Home To Attend Birth Of His Child, Out Of India ODIs
Published - 21 Sep 2023, 04:54 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:19 AM
Australia will be without their spinner Ashton Agar for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Team India. Before the World Cup gets underway next month, the five-time ODI world champions will take on India in a short ODI series.
The series will give opportunities to both teams to finetune their preparations for the World Cup, scheduled to begin on October 5. Australia, however, will be without a number of key players for the series opener while Ashton Agar will not be available for the whole series.
The left-arm spinner is a part of the Australian squad for the World Cup. And while he would have loved to play in Indian conditions ahead of the World Cup, he has returned home for the birth of his child. He is likely to join the Australian team ahead of the warm-up games.
Ashton Agar made his debut in the 50-over format in 2015 but has played just 22 ODIs so far. He has played 6 ODIs in India so far and has picked up 6 wickets. Earlier this month, Ashton Agar showed his all-round abilities by playing a fine cameo with the bat during the first ODI against South Africa. He scored an unbeaten 48 and shared an unbeaten stand of 112 runs with Marnus Labuschagne to help Australia chase down 223 after being reduced to 113 for 7.
Australia to be without big names for series-opener:
Ashton Agar will not be the only player who will be unavailable for Australia for the first ODI. Speaking to the journalists ahead of the series opener, captain Pat Cummins confirmed that the likes of Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell will also miss the game.
India will also not be at full strength for the first ODI. Following the triumph in the Asia Cup, India have rested Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav for the first two ODIs. In Rohit’s absence, KL Rahul will lead the side.
Meanwhile, the first match of the three-ODI series is scheduled to be played on September 22 in Mohali. Indore and Rajkot will be the venue for the second and third ODIs respectively.
