The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to announce India's white-ball squads for the upcoming Australia tour on Saturday, October 4. The senior men's team chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, is likely to hold a press conference at the board's headquarters in Mumbai.

The likely press conference will take place after the selectors' meeting, wherein the committee will pick the squad for the ODI and T20I series against Australia. India's tour of Australia will begin with the ODI leg, beginning on October 19, and the five-match T20I series will take place from October 29. The Men in Blue will tour Australia for the first time since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy defeat Down Under earlier this year.

The squad will take place amid the ongoing first Test against West Indies, which is happening at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The squads for the ODI and T20I series are expected to highlight the selectors' focus on balancing experience with emerging talent. The performances of the players in the ongoing unofficial ODI series between India A and Australia A will likely be taken into consideration.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli set for ODI comeback

There is much anticipation for the squad announcement for the Australia white-ball tour as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are expected to make their return to competitive cricket. After announcing their retirements from Test cricket ahead of the England tour in May, India's batting stalwarts have not played any competitive cricket.

Rohit Sharma's last appearance was in Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2025, where the Mumbai Indians lost to the Punjab Kings, while Virat Kohli was part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team that clinched their maiden IPL title in June. It's been over three months since both stalwarts last featured in a competitive match.

Rohit and Kohli's last international appearance was in the Champions Trophy 2025 Final against New Zealand in March. It's been over six months since they both played an international match, and their return is expected to bolster India's batting line-up for the Australia white-ball tour.

THE RO-KO DUO SET TO RETURN. - India's squad for Australia series likely to be picked tomorrow as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma set to return. (Cricbuzz). twitter/LvNJHiHHER

- Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 3, 2025

Last month, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli successfully cleared mandatory fitness Tests to be considered for selection for the Australia tour. Rohit, alongside other contracted Indian players, traveled to Bengaluru to undergo their fitness Tests at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), while Kohli took his fitness Tests in London with a special exemption.

Will Rohit Sharma Retain his ODI Captaincy?

As the BCCI selection committee is expected to finalise the squads for the ODI and T20I series against Australia on Saturday, the big question is whether Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the ODI team. After retiring from T20Is and Tests within a year, Rohit's role in the ODI team, including captaincy, is a key talking point.

Since the selectors are looking at the future, having already handed over Test captaincy to 25-year-old Shubman Gill, who is also vice-captain of the white-ball team, they may evaluate Rohit's leadership role carefully before finalising the squads. As per the report by Cricbuzz, the selectors will have a discussion directly with Rohit Sharma on his ODI captaincy.

ROHIT SHARMA - THE ODI CAPTAIN OF INDIA - There is no reason to remove Rohit Sharma from ODI leadership of Team India as he has hardly had a failure in ODIs unless he himself wants to concentrate on his batting. (PTI). twitter/F8JSVXlIaJ

- Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) October 3, 2025

Earlier, it was reported that Shreyas Iyer was in a strong contention to take over the ODI captaincy baton from Rohit Sharma in the build-up to the 2027 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Shreyas is currently leading India A in the ongoing unofficial ODI series against Australia A in Kanpur.

Meanwhile, most of the Champions Trophy team, including Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, and Arshdeep Singh, are expected to get picked, as per the report by Cricbuzz. There is uncertainty over Mohammed Shami's inclusion as he is still not fully to play international cricket.

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