Rahul Dravid explains the rationale behind resting Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

India will be taking on Australia in a three-match ODI series as the final chapter of preparations begin ahead of the World Cup that is slated to start from October 5th, with the Men in Blue's first match on October 8th. 

The Indian team's think-tank have opted to rest Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the first two ODIs, with the senior duo set to return to action for the final match of the series. 

A few questions were raised about the move to rest the senior duo ahead of the tournament, particularly keeping in mind the context of form and momentum playing a major role prior to the World Cup.  

In the pre-match conference ahead of the 1st ODI, Indian coach  Rahul Dravid addressed the topic, speaking on how the duo have been rested only to keep them mentally and physically ready for the global event. 

Dravid said, “With people like Virat and Rohit specifically, from our perspective, it's really important that we get them to the first game of the World Cup physically and mentally in the space they want to be in. At this level, the amount of cricket that they've played, they know how they need to prepare themselves. A lot of these decisions are made in discussion with them in an effort to try and get… all our players, obviously not only the two of them, but certainly the senior and the more experienced guys kind of have their routines and know what they need to do to get into the first game in the right frame of mind.”

Dravid further added, “So a lot of these decisions we discuss with them on how best they would like to prepare in the lead up to big events like the World Cup. Based on those discussions, we come up with some mutual decisions on deciding probably these two games were good games to take off, just to refresh mentally more than anything else, and then come back from [the third ODI in] Rajkot, and then it's going to be a tough couple of months ahead of us."

In Rohit's absence, KL Rahul will lead the team for the first two ODIs against Australia, with the former set to back in action for the final game of the bilateral series.