Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli marked their comeback to international cricket today with the first ODI against Australia at the Optus Stadium. They last played for India in the Champions Trophy, which the men in blue won under Rohit's captaincy in March 2025. Meanwhile, Rohit has also notched up a major career milestone as he is playing his 500th international match for India today.
He becomes the fifth Indian player to do so after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar played a staggering 664 matches across formats, while Kohli is playing his 551st game for the country. However, Rohit couldn't make the milestone match memorable for himself, as Josh Hazlewood spoiled the party for the Indian fans. The former Indian captain could only score eight runs on his comeback as he edged a delivery to the second slip where debutant Matt Renshaw took an easy catch.
Most matches played for India in international cricket
| Players | Matches |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 664 |
| Virat Kohli | 551* |
| MS Dhoni | 535 |
| Rahul Dravid | 504 |
| Rohit Sharma | 500* |
Australia field two debutants, India hand debut to Nitish Reddy
As far as the match is concerned, Australia have fielded two debutants - Matt Renshaw and Mitchell Owen - in the first ODI while India also handed a debut to all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. The hosts opted to bowl first after winning the toss as India lost it for the 16th consecutive time in ODI cricket. They last won the toss back in 2023 in the World Cup semifinal against New Zealand.
Playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe(w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
