Why are Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli not playing today’s India vs Australia 1st ODI? 

Skipper Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli will be absent from India's playing 11 for their first match against Australia in Mohali on Friday.

The top-order batters have been rested for the first two of the three-match ODI series. Vice-captain Hardik Pandya and in-form wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav will also be unavailable. All players would be back for the final ODI on September 27.

In the pre-series press conference, head coach Rahul Dravid explained that the decision to give Rohit and Kohli a rest was "mutual".

“So a lot of these decisions are taken in discussions with them," he said. "We discuss with them, how best they would like to prepare in the lead-up to the World Cup. So yeah, based on those discussions, we came up with mutual decisions on deciding that probably these two games were good games for them to take off just to refresh mentally more than anything else. Then come back to Rajkot. And then it's gonna be a tough couple of months ahead for us,” Dravid added.

With only a few weeks to go for the World Cup, India are looking to manage the workload of their most important players who are sure-shot starters in the playing 11.

Australian captain Pat Cummins also said that he'd like to strike a balance between trying to win and keeping players fresh in this series.

Who has replaced Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli in today’s India vs Australia 1st ODI?

India have brought in Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer into the batting lineup.

Gaikwad, who'll soon lead India at the 2023 Asia Games, will open the innings alongside Shubman Gill.

Shreyas, who lost his place at No. 4 due to a back spasm during the Asia Cup, will now likely bat at No. 3 in Mohali in Kohli's absence.

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