India white-ball series ideal Ashes preparation: Australia captain Mitchell Marsh

Australia ODI captain Mitchell Marsh said India’s white-ball series will be an ideal preparation for the upcoming Ashes. Australia will host India for three ODIs and five T20Is, with the first ODI set to be played in Perth on Sunday. 

Australia has retained the urn in the last decade, as England last won the Ashes in 2015. England’s last Ashes victory on the Australian shores came on the 2010-11 tour.

Meanwhile, Australia could suffer a huge blow as their Test captain, Pat Cummins, is doubtful for the Ashes due to a back issue. 

“We’ll have all the guys building towards the Ashes but everyone loves playing against India,” Marsh said.

Marsh added that they share a great rivalry as well as respect for the Indian team.

“We’ve got a great rivalry and great respect for them as a team. It’s literally perfect timing to be playing against India in the lead-up to an Ashes series. It’s going to be massive,” he added.       

While India is at the top of the ICC ODI rankings with 124 rating points, Australia is in third place in the standings with 106 rating points.

Meanwhile, India will welcome back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli with open arms as the duo will return to the international setup after the Champions Trophy triumph. Shubman Gill has been named as India’s new ODI skipper. 

India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal

Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Owen, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa