Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play 1st ODI vs Australia. Photo: AI
A new era will kick off in India’s ODI cricket when they take on Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series on Sunday (October 19). Shubman Gill will make his ODI captaincy debut and lead the Men in Blue against the Kangaroos. Gill replaced Rohit Sharma, who captained India to a title win in the 2025 Champions Trophy. He is now India’s captain in two formats and is likely to take over the charge of the T20I team after the 2026 World Cup. Shreyas Iyer was appointed the ODI team’s new vice-captain.
The series opener will mark Rohit Sharma’s and Virat Kohli’s return to international cricket. Since they are now only active in ODIs, they haven’t played for Team India since March 2025.
They retired from T20Is after winning the 2024 World Cup. Both former India captains quit Test cricket before the England tour. They haven’t played professional cricket since IPL 2025, which ended in the first week of June.
India’s pace attack is a bit inexperienced in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Bumrah has been rested for the ODI leg of the series while Shami was ignored. Mohammed Siraj will lead the pace attack.
India will also miss out on the services of Hardik Pandya. The star all-rounder is out of action due to an injury. Nitish Kumar Reddy looks all but set to make his ODI debut in Perth.
Rohit Sharma will open the innings with Shubman GillYashasvi Jaiswal, who made his ODI comeback, might have to wait for his chance as Rohit and Gill will continue to open the innings. The left-handed batsman played one ODI. He was dropped from the Champions Trophy squad.
When and where to watch India vs Australia 1st ODI in India?
The first ODI between India and Australia will have a live telecast on the Star Sports Network from 9:00 AM IST. The toss will take place at 8:30 AM IST. The fans can live stream the match on the JioHostar app.