New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Australia’s rising star Cooper Connolly dubbed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as ‘world-class players’ and expressed excitement about sharing the field with the Indian stalwarts again while recalling the last time he played a game against the two stars.

The 22-year-old all-rounder has been named in Australia’s ODI squad for their home series against India, starting from October 19 in Perth, and might get a chance to share the field with the senior Indian players again.

Connolly shared the field with Kohli and Rohit during the two teams’ Champions Trophy semi-final clash this year in March. He was a part of Australia’s XI and opened the batting for them but was dismissed for a nine-ball duck.

“It’s exciting, they’re two world-class players. I’ve played them both before, and there’s a bit of aura about them. You just think, ‘these guys have played a lot of cricket’ and they have got that strut about them,” Connolly told The West Australian.

“They own this game, pretty much. It’s exciting; there will be a lot of fans here to watch those two go about it pretty much and we’re excited to play some good cricket. They’re bringing over a pretty strong squad, but hopefully we can win the series. It would be an honour. I’ve obviously looked up to Virat, he’s a nice player. I haven’t had much communication with him, but it’d be an honour to share the field one last time with him.”

Kohli’s last game in Australia was the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which was also the last red-ball international game of his career before he announced his retirement from the format.

Kohli will return to action after a long break, as will Rohit, since both are now primarily active in the one-day format.

With Australia preparing to host India for three ODIs, followed by five T20Is, the seasoned duo of “RoKo” will finally be back in play.

— IANS

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