Just days after helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru win their second IPL title, in a row, Virat Kohli is ready to join the Indian squad in Mullanpur on June 9, ahead of the ODI series against Afghanistan. Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, and other players who are not connected to the Test setup will also report for duty. Even so, while the Test side stays busy, the ODI specialists will head into a three day training camp first, then leave for Dharamshala on June 11.

Prince Yadav who is now serving as a net bowler for the Test squad, will shift to the ODI camp after he earns his first ODI call up. The young quick bowler really got the selectors attention through his shows in IPL 2026. Handling both groups at the same time may turn out to be difficult for the support staff, specially because the India A–Afghanistan Test starts on June 6 and could go on until June 10.

Even if the contest is not expected to stretch the full five days, the team management has kept a backup plan in place just in case. The coaching staff will be splitting the workload between the Test side and the ODI side, in a kind of parallel way.

As India starts back its prep for the 2027 ODI World Cup, attention will naturally drift toward the senior stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, especially Rohit. His pick in the ODI squad caused a few questions, because there were doubts, around his fitness status. Those doubts have lingered on, since the squad announcement on May 19.

Rohit took a hamstring hit in IPL 2026 and ended up missing five matches for Mumbai Indians , even though it sounds straightforward on paper. Still, he came back before the squad selection, and somehow managed to show up in three games. But despite that return the selectors, at least reportedly, stayed very cautious about his fitness, which left a lot of observers a bit surprised.

After Mumbai Indians couldn’t make it to the playoffs, the BCCI then called Rohit and Hardik Pandya to the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Hardik has already reported , and Rohit is expected to make the visit too before heading onward to Mullanpur. For both of them, BCCI medical clearance is required , before they can be considered available for selection. Also worth noting, Hardik had his own fitness battles during IPL 2026, missing four matches due to back spasms.

With World Cup planning already underway, the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar seems kinda keen to try new combinations, a bit of experimentation really. India will play 15 more ODIs in 2026, starting with the Afghanistan series. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan may get their chances during this stretch, and if it happens Rohit Sharma’s spot could face extra scrutiny.

Virat Kohli stays one of the first names on the team sheet. He had another productive IPL campaign  and at the moment he’s leading India’s ODI run-scoring charts for 2026 with this huge average of 80.00. Rohit, however, ran into a rough bit of time early in the year, putting up 26, 24 and 11 against New Zealand back in January.

His IPL outing was kind of modest too, 283 runs in nine innings. If his struggles with form and fitness keep dragging on, selectors might think about slotting either Jaiswal or Kishan next to Shubman Gill. So the upcoming bilateral ODI series could end up being pretty crucial, in terms of how Rohit’s future in the format ends up looking.

Read also: When will Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli join the Indian squad for the Ind-Afg Test in Dharamsala

The selectors have already hinted at a readiness to experiment ,kind of, by giving Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel a break. Instead of them, left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey got his first ODI call up, like a proper debut moment. Rohit Sharma may not get the luxury of a guaranteed place if the team keeps moving along this path. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has also said he is worried about Rohit’s recent output, performances.

As for Hardik Pandya, India still don’t have a real, like for like replacement. his all round impact remains kinda unmatched in the current set up. Nitish Kumar Reddy keeps developing as a potential backup option, and honestly you can see the growth. One area where Reddy used to fall behind was bowling pace, but during IPL 2026 he showed real improvement, taking eight wickets in 14 matches. at the same time his speed went up as well.

Even if he cannot fully mirror Hardik’s role, he does come across as a promising alternative , at least for now. still, Hardik will remain a key figure in India’s hopes of winning the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.

Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma (subject to fitness), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya (subject to fitness), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey