The Indian cricket team for the upcoming Australia tour has been finalized, with both ODI and T20 series scheduled. The announcement has sparked conversations around Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s comeback and Shubman Gill’s new captaincy. However, the squad sees the exclusion of three key players who were instrumental in India’s success in the recent 2025 Champions Trophy. Notably, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and pace bowler Mohammed Shami have been left out of the squad for the Australian tour.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s men’s selection committee revealed the team on October 4th. The focus was heavily on the ODI squad, given the anticipation around the selection of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The decision to replace Rohit Sharma, the captain who had led India to victory in the Champions Trophy just seven months prior, with Shubman Gill, was unexpected. While Rohit’s future had been speculated upon, many expected the recent champion captain to retain the leadership for at least one more series.
Shami, a senior fast bowler who significantly contributed to India’s triumph in the Champions Trophy, has also been dropped. In the Champions Trophy, Shami took 3 wickets in the semi-final, helping the team to reach the final. He was India’s most successful bowler of the tournament, with 9 wickets. However, he doesn’t have a place in the team this time. Fitness issues prevented Shami from being selected for the Test series on the England tour, but no such reason has been cited for his exclusion this time.
Spin bowler Varun Chakravarthy has also been omitted from the squad. Mystery spinner Varun took 9 wickets in the Champions Trophy, the same as Shami, and was a significant factor in India’s success. He took 2 wickets each in the semi-final and final with economical bowling. Despite his performance, his non-selection for the Australia tour was surprising. Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar did not provide any explanation for this. Varun, however, will be part of the T20 series.
A major decision was the dropping of Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja was part of the Indian team in the Champions Trophy, though his tournament was not particularly outstanding. He took only 5 wickets and scored 50 runs. Nevertheless, he has recently demonstrated strong batting form in the Test format against England and the West Indies. Agarkar explained that Jadeja was not selected because they did not need many spinners in Australia and it was unnecessary to have three left-arm spinners at the same time. Agarkar confirmed that Jadeja remains part of the ODI plans.
ODI squad for the Australia tour:
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhrul Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.