5 Indian players who could be touring Australia for the last time

After an interval of four years, the Indian cricket team is back down under to revive all the blemishes of the past. Back in 2014, when the team flew to Australia, it was a rather inexperienced side. With most of the senior cricketers retiring from the game, the side was undergoing a transition. It is almost the same crop of cricketers now who are a part of the team. But, they are much more experienced and have been a part of many memorable wins in this duration. They played a critical role in helping India be a dominant force in world cricket. But, at the same time, they are all four years older now. This essentially means that when India will fly down to Australia again, approximately four years later, a few of them could be missing from the team. Here is a list of five such cricketers who might be touring Australia for the one last time in their career. 5. Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin of India. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) The leader of the spin attack for India, Ravichandran Ashwin has got several records to his name. He is the fastest to 300 Test wickets and is on his way to 400. Not a part of the limited-overs side anymore, Ashwin has only been preferred for the longest format over the last one year or so. The off-spinner is 33 years old now and will be around 37 the next time India set off for Australia. Since his debut in 2010, this is the third time Ashwin will be playing in the land of Kangaroos. In a total of 18 matches across formats, he has picked 30 wickets. 21 of those wickets came in 6 Tests which isn’t really an encouraging record for a bowler of his quality. Even if he does well this time, it might be his last tour to Australia with age really not on his side and with the youngsters rising in the ranks. 4. Parthiv Patel Parthiv Patel. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images) Parthiv Patel has been in and out of the Indian team for some time now. He wasn’t picked again after the South Africa tour earlier this year. At the moment, Rishabh Pant seems to have grabbed the keeper’s slot in the Test side. Although Parthiv has scored heavily in domestic cricket, he didn’t make it big in international cricket. He last toured Australia in 2004 before the arrival of MS Dhoni. In four Tests that he played down under, he scored 160 runs at an average of 32 and 28 runs in the only ODI that he played. The wicketkeeper-batsman is also 33 years old now and he might have already flown to Australia for the last time with the Indian team. 3. Murali Vijay India batsman Murali Vijay. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) Murali Vijay was one of the backbones of the Indian batting order until last year. But, 2018 hasn’t created a lot of fond memories for him. Vijay struggled with his form and also faced the axe from the national team recently. However, he has regained the spot on the back of some impressive knocks in county cricket. The 34-year-old had a dream run when India went to Australia in 2014-15. In the 4-match Test series, he scored 482 runs at an average of 60. Vijay might want to repeat similar performance this time and end on a high. However, he will be having to compete with Prithvi Shaw to make it into the final XI. 2. Dinesh Karthik Dinesh Karthik. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) Even though it’s been almost 14 years since Dinesh Karthik made his debut, he has hardly played international games in Australia. The wicketkeeper-batsman just represented the team in one T20I game in 2008 under MS Dhoni. Apart from that, he hasn’t featured in either the Tests or the ODIs down under. He is the third 33-year-old member on this list. With Rishabh Pant evolving into a great option behind the stumps, DK’s services might not be required four years later from now. He should be looking at this as an opportunity to break into the World Cup side if he gets selected for the ODIs. 1. MS Dhoni MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: Twitter) MS Dhoni is one certain name from the current squad who would not fly to Australia again with the team. He is in the twilight of his career and many are expecting him to call curtains on his career after the World Cup next year. The Ranchi batsman is already 37 years old now and it would be highly optimistic even for the biggest of his fans to expect him to play four years later. He retired from the longest format of the game the last time India toured Australia in 2014-15. Dhoni has scored 491 runs in 18 ODIs in Australia at an average of 35. Overall, he has scored 905 runs in 33 games across all the formats and the fans would want him to get past the 1,000 run mark on this tour. Also, he has scored 9,999 for India thus far in ODIs and should get to 10k runs early next year. Get the latest Cricket News and updates from Australia vs India series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.

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5 Indian players who could be touring Australia for the last time

India tour Australia once in four years or so and this might be the last chance for these players to leave a mark.

3. Murali Vijay

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