Rohit to miss first Australia ODI with Pandya named stand-in captain

Rohit Sharma will miss the first ODI for India against Australia due to "family commitments" and Hardik Pandya will act as stand-in captain.

Rohit's absence means Pandya will captain the ODI team for the first time after making his debut in the format in 2016.

The opener is set to be played in Mumbai on March 17 after the ongoing Test series, in which India have already retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy by taking a 2-0 lead with two red-ball matches to play.

Ravindra Jadeja returned to Test cricket with career-best bowling figures of 7-42 in the second innings as India secured a six-wicket victory on Sunday, and he featured in the squad having not played an ODI since July 2022.

Shreyas Iyer was included after a back injury ruled him out of the 50-over series with New Zealand and the first Test with Australia, while Jasprit Bumrah remained absent as he recovers from a similar issue to Iyer.

There were no changes to the red-ball squad for the final two Tests of the series with Australia, but no vice-captain was named with KL Rahul, who acted as Rohit's deputy for the first two matches, struggling for form having mustered just 117 runs over his last five matches in the format.

NEWS : India squads for last two Tests of Border-Gavaskar Trophy and ODI series announced. #TeamIndia | #INDvAUS | @mastercardindiaMore Details https://t.co/Mh8XMabWei
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 19, 2023