Rohit and Kohli return as India's ODI squad assembles in Thiruvananthapuram

India's one-day squad gathers in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the group for the first time since July

India's players were due to assemble in Thiruvananthapuram by Thursday ahead of the first one-day international against West Indies, some of them arriving on Wednesday night and the rest joining a day later.

The series opens at the Greenfield International Stadium on Sunday and is India's first home assignment of the season: three one-day internationals followed by five Twenty20 internationals that run to the middle of October.

Shubman Gill captains the side, with KL Rahul named vice-captain and wicketkeeper. Rahul has been preparing at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Back for the first time since Lord's

Rohit and Kohli last appeared in the format in the third one-day international against England at Lord's on 19 July, a little over two months ago.

Rohit made 138 from 110 balls in that match, India closing on 360 for 7 in reply to England's 387 for 3 and losing by 27 runs. It was also the game in which he and Kohli became the first India pair to play 400 international matches together.

Ravindra Jadeja also returns, having been out of the one-day side since the series against New Zealand earlier this year.

Gambhir on a young captain's hardest job

Gill took the one-day captaincy from Rohit and heads into the series with the two most experienced batters in Indian cricket alongside him. Head coach Gautam Gambhir framed that as an advantage rather than a complication.

"In ODIs, he is very fortunate that he has got the likes of Rohit and Virat to help him on and off the field," Gambhir said of Gill, adding that the captain "has had a bit of a tough time in One Day cricket" but "has done all the right things".

"Leaving out anyone in Indian cricket from the playing eleven is always going to be tough," he said of the selection calls ahead. "But when you have to do that as a young captain, it is probably the toughest job."

Asian Games duty thins the group

Several first-choice white-ball players are unavailable because they are in Japan for the Asian Games, among them Twenty20 captain Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan. India's men are seeded straight into the quarter-finals of a competition that began this week.

Nitish Kumar Reddy was withdrawn from the Asian Games squad to play the one-day matches instead and build his bowling load.

The rest of the 15 is Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi and Naman Dhir.

West Indies arrive under Hope

West Indies, captained in both formats by Shai Hope, had already landed and begun their preparations. Jason Holder was rested for the tour and Shimron Hetmyer joins only for the Twenty20 leg.

"Playing against the top team in the world presents us with a chance to fine tune and improve our performances as an ODI team," head coach Daren Sammy said when the squads were named.

Uncapped opener Kamil Pooran was named in the Twenty20 squad on the strength of his Caribbean Premier League season, and John Campbell returns to the one-day group after a hamstring injury.

A first step towards 2027

The series begins India's build-up to the 2027 World Cup, to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in October and November next year.

"There's always unfinished business, because when you go into the World Cup, you want to go out there and win it," Gambhir told JioStar, referring to the runners-up finish in 2023.

The one-day internationals are in Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September, Guwahati on 30 September and New Chandigarh on 3 October.

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