Rohit and Kohli's last appearance for India was during the Champions Trophy earlier this year.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli called time on their T20I career following the T20 World Cup triumph in 2024, while they stepped away from the Test format in May this year.
There has been no ODI cricket for India since the end of IPL 2025, and the next series is scheduled for October in Australia.
Ahead of their much-awaited return to international cricket, rumours are rife that the batting stalwarts could be asked to feature in the upcoming one-day matches for India A against Australia A at home.
The Australian A team is slated to tour India for a couple of four-day red-ball games and three one-day matches. The BCCI has already unveiled the Shreyas Iyer-led squad for the red-ball fixtures that will be taking place in Lucknow starting next week, and is expected to make a similar announcement for the white-ball games.
Amid the speculations, a report published in TOI suggests that both Rohit and Kohli will not be forced to play in the series and their participation will only happen if they need game time before the tour Down Under, where India will play three ODIs and five T20Is.
"See it's highly unlikely that they will play the three India A games. No call has been taken on that and it will not be forced upon them too. Only if they need some game time, you could see them play one, or even two, games before the Australia ODIs. But nothing has been finalised yet. They are very much fit and available for the Australia ODIs," TOI quoted a senior BCCI official as saying.
"Before the selectors decide the India A squad and then the India squads for Australia tour, Irani Cup squad will be announced and some selectors are set to watch the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru while Ajit Agarkar is with the team in Dubai," the official added.
Recently, both Rohit and Kohli underwent fitness tests. While Kohli’s fitness test was reportedly conducted in London, Rohit went to the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru for the same.
"Those were the routine fitness tests. All the contracted players go through the fitness test twice a year. Nothing unusual there or something which affects or will have a say in selection," the official said.
The two superstars were initially expected to make their international return during India’s white-ball tour of Bangladesh that was scheduled to take place last month, only for the tour to get rescheduled for next year amidst strained relations between two neighboring countries.