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Australian cricket fans may have their last chance to see India batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in action when the pair tour in the one day international (ODI) series starting in Perth Sunday.Boasting almost 600 ODIs between them, both 36-year-old Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit are active internationally only in the 50-overs format but their future beyond the three-match series is uncertain. Head coach Gautam Gambhir was tight-lipped when asked this week whether the duo might continue on under new captain Shubman Gill, who leads the ODI squad for the first time in Australia.Rohit and Kohli last played for India in the Champions Trophy final in March in which they beat New Zealand.If Australia is to be their last taste of international cricket, it will be in front of crowds packed with fans from the country’s booming Indian communities in Perth, Adelaide (October 23) and Sydney (October 25). A number of Test players in the Australia squad, including batter Travis Head and veteran pacemen, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, will use the series to loosen up for the Ashes.It will Starc’s first start in international cricket in the Australasian summer, having retired from T20s.Marnus Labuschagne, a late call-up to replace injured all-rounder Cameron Green, will hope to convert his hot red-ball form into white-ball runs to continue building his case for an Ashes recall.Labuschagne was dropped from the Test side for the tour of West Indies but has roared back into contention with centuries in his last two Sheffield Shield matches for Queensland.Green’s injury was diagnosed as “low grade” but Australia are not taking any chances with him ahead of the Ashes, which start in six weeks. “Cameron Green has been ruled out of the (India) series having experienced low-grade side soreness at training this week,” Cricket Australia said.“Green will complete a short period of rehabilitation and is tracking to return to play in round three of the Sheffield Shield to continue his preparation for the Ashes.”Round three of the domestic competition is due to start on October 28. Labuschagne will join the ODI squad once the current Sheffield Shield round finishes this weekend.Cricket Australia said Friday Green had been ruled out of the ODI series after having “low grade side soreness” in training and would likely return to play in Shield cricket.The all-rounder joins Pat Cummins on the sidelines, with the regular skipper struggling to shake off lower back bone stress which has put him in doubt for the start of the Ashes.Australia will also be without regular wicketkeeper Alex Carey for the Perth opener against India along with spinner Adam Zampa.Josh Philippe will be behind the stumps, while left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann gets a rare chance in the one-day side in Zampa’s absence.The ODIs precede a five-match T20I series starting in Canberra on October 29 as both nations tune up for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year.

Britain, Australia, Canada and Portugal on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a coordinated, historic shift in decades of Western foreign policy, triggering swift anger from Israel.Other countries, including France, are due to follow Monday at the annual UN General Assembly opening in New York.Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the statehood moves, later vowing to expand Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Netanyahu spoke after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain was formally recognising the State of Palestine "to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution".The UK and Canada became the first members of the Group of Seven advanced economies to take the step, with Australia following suit.Portugal said Sunday it recognises a Palestinian state, making it the latest Western nation to make the symbolic move as the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending."Recognizing the State of Palestine is therefore the fulfilment of a fundamental, consistent, and widely agreed policy," Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters in New York."Portugal advocates the two-state solution as the only path to a just and lasting peace, one that promotes coexistence and peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine," he added.Three-quarters of UN members now recognise Palestinian statehood, with at least 144 of the 193 member countries having taken the step.Canada "offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future", Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X.Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the move "recognises the legitimate and long held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own".Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas hailed the recognitions as "an important and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace".French President Emmanuel Macron insisted in an interview with a US television network that releasing the hostages captured in 2023 would be "a requirement very clearly before opening, for instance, an embassy in Palestine".It is a watershed moment for Palestinians and their ambitions for statehood, with the most powerful Western nations having long argued it should only come as part of a negotiated peace deal with Israel.Although a largely symbolic move, it puts those countries at odds with the US and Israel.US President Donald Trump said last week after talks with Starmer during a state visit to the UK that "one of our few disagreements" was over Palestinian statehood.A growing number of longtime Israeli allies have shifted their long-held positions as Israel has intensified its Gaza offensive.The Gaza Strip has suffered vast destruction, with a growing international outcry over the besieged coastal territory's spiralling death toll and a UN-declared famine.The UK government has come under increasing public pressure to act, with thousands of people rallying every month on the streets. A poll released by YouGov on Friday showed two-thirds of British people aged 18-25 supported Palestinian statehood.

Australia on Wednesday strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes that targeted several Hamas leaders in Doha, stressing that the attack constitutes a violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar.Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement that the strikes would complicate efforts to reach a peace agreement and risk further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.Wong underlined that the attack undermines Qatar's role in supporting ceasefire efforts and the release of hostages."The Australian government believes this was the wrong thing to do. Qatar, as you know, has been one of the parties seeking an immediate ceasefire. It has been working with the United States on the return of hostages," Wong told ABC News on Wednesday."This is a violation of Qatar's sovereignty. It imperils that work on the ceasefire and it risks escalation," she stressed.