No Gautam Gambhir as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma fly to Australia for ODI series with first batch
New Delhi (PTI): Senior cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were among the first group of Indian players who departed on Wednesday for the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting October 19.
Kohli and Rohit were joined by Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, and pacers Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna along with some members of the support staff.
The group arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the morning, where a crowd of enthusiastic fans had gathered outside to catch a glimpse of them.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir and some other members of the coaching staff will leave in the evening.
India is due to play three ODIs starting Sunday in Perth followed by Adelaide and Sydney.
It will be followed by a five-match T20 International series and the format specialists will leave on October 22 tentatively. The series will begin on October 29.
The ODI series has drawn considerable attention amid ongoing speculation about the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom have retired from Tests and T20Is.
After India’s 2-0 Test series sweep against the West Indies on Tuesday, Gambhir said he hoped Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli would perform well in the upcoming assignment, though he avoided making any clear statement on their chances of featuring in the 2027 World Cup.
"The 50-over World Cup is still two and a half years away. It is very important to stay in the present. Obviously they are quality players. They are coming back. Their experience is going to be valuable in Australia," Gambhir had said in the post-series press conference.
"Hopefully those two guys can have a successful tour, and more importantly, as a team we can have a successful series," Gambhir said when asked about the future of the two former skippers.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
