In preparation for the team's debut ODI match against Australia, which is scheduled for October 19 in Perth, former Indian batsman Sanjay Bangar picked his squad. In the batting order, he selected Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul after India's ODI skipper Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma as openers. In addition to selecting Washington Sundar and Axar Patel as his spin-bowling all-rounders, Bangar also included Nitish Reddy, a fast-bowling all-rounder, in his squad. Remarkably, the former India great left out Kuldeep Yadav, who took the most wickets in the Asia Cup 2025 with 17 total, from his starting lineup.

Sanjay Bangar's selection for the opening ODI against Australia was completed by Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana.

Check out his starting lineup here: Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), and Shubman Gill (c).

Since this is Rohit and Kohli's first international appearance since India's Champions Trophy victory in March, the ODIs have created a lot of buzz. Particularly after Gill was promoted to ODI captain, there has been a great deal of conjecture regarding the future of the two mainstays.

Despite having previously retired from Test and T20 internationals, both players are reportedly eager to play at least until the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Since assuming control of the ODI team, Gill, who also captains the Test team, has backed the concept in his media appearances.

"The experience that both of them have and the matches that they have won for India, there are very few players who have won so many matches for India...players who have such skills and qualities with this experience are very few," Gill stated.

"There aren't many players in the world with this level of talent, expertise, and experience. During a recent home Test series victory over the West Indies, he had said, "So, in that sense, yes," on the pair's possibilities for 2027.