Team India began their preparations for the ODI series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. The first ODI against Australia is on Friday.

Regular captain Rohit Sharma will miss the first ODI due to family commitments and the stand-in captain for the match, Hardik Pandya, was among those who trained for more than two hours with the white ball.

Among the other players who were in attendance were fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur and among batters, Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.

While India head coach Rahul Dravid did not attend the optional session, the other members of the coaching staff, batting coach Vikram Rathour, fielding coach T Dilip and bowling coach ParasMhambrey were present along with throw-down specialists Raghavendraa and Nuwan Seneviratne.

India’s preferred choice for No. 5 spot and wicketkeeping duties, KL Rahul, who was dropped from the team after the first two Tests at Nagpur and New Delhi, was also among the absentees.

Suryakumar, Kishan and Pandya had long stints with the bat. Suryakumar mostly had a conventional approach in the nets with an odd aggressive shot but captain Pandyadid chance his arms whenever the opportunity presented itself.