The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced the squad for the first three ODIs against Australia, starting September 17 in Chennai.

The squad selection saw some young cricketers making a cut, overshadowing experienced ones as the board set its sight on the 2019 World Cup.

“The team for the three ODIs against Australia has been selected in line with the rotation policy of the Board and accordingly Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested,” All-India Senior Selection Committee chairman MSK Prasad said in a statement.

Keeping the forthcoming tours in perspective, the BCCI gave young spinners Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal a chance over Ashwin and Jadeja.

“The team’s performance during the Sri Lanka tour was outstanding and players like Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, who performed very well are being given an extended run and this will in turn supplement our approach to build strong reserve strength, as we prepare for forthcoming tours,” Prasad added.

This wasn’t surprising as Kohli had hinted earlier that fans should expect “a lot of changes” in the coming days as the team starts drawing a road-map for the World Cup.

“I think we need to start planning for the 2019 World Cup. You have to prepare 24 months in advance. We are taking that as a challenge and look to try out different things,” Kohli said during the Sri Lanka tour, where Team India defeated Sri Lanka in Tests 3-0, ODIs 5-0 and one-off T20I.

“We’re going to experiment and embrace that. You can see a lot of changes. All the guys have bought into it. It’s all about what gives us more balance,” the Indian captain added.

India were on top against struggling Sri Lankan side in the recently concluded series and players like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Axar and Chahal came out in flying colours.

Vice-captain Rohit shouldered the responsibility to a great extend as he scored 302 runs in the five-match ODI series, with two centuries and a half-ton.

Dhawan, the Man of The Series in Tests, smashed 548 runs for India in the complete series. He added three centuries in his kitty during the Sri Lanka series.

Pandya was a havoc at middle-order as he displayed his fearless batting throughout the series. He scored 197 runs and claimed eight wickets in three Tests and four ODIs.

Besides young-guns, veteran wicketkeeper batsman MS Dhoni also justified his place in the team as he scored causative knocks to propel India to victory. Dhoni made 163 runs and dismissed nine batsmen while keeping the stumps.

India’s squad for first three ODIs: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami

(With inputs from agencies)