Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli has returned to India ahead of his much-awaited comeback to international cricket. The 36-year-old, who has been residing in London, landed in New Delhi on Tuesday, October 14, marking his first public appearance since March. Kohli last represented India on March 9, 2025, during a match in Dubai.
The veteran batter will travel with the Indian squad from Delhi to Australia on Wednesday, October 15, for the three-match ODI series. The tour opener will take place at the Optus Stadium in Perth on October 19, followed by fixtures in Adelaide (October 23) and Sydney (October 25).
“𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝑲𝒐𝒉𝒍𝒊 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒉𝒊 𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂,” 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅.
Kohli Eyes ODI Milestone as Gill Begins Leadership Stint
Kohli, India’s second-highest run-getter in ODIs, is on the verge of another historic milestone. He needs just 54 runs to surpass Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 14,234 runs and become the second-highest run-scorer in ODI history, behind Sachin Tendulkar. So far, the Delhi-born star has amassed 14,181 runs in 302 ODIs.
For the first time, Kohli will play under Shubman Gill’s ODI captaincy. The young opener, who already leads India in Tests, recently guided the team to a 2-2 draw against England and a 2-0 series win over the West Indies, placing India third in the WTC 2025-27 points table.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 — 𝑲𝒐𝒉𝒍𝒊’𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒍’𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓.
Following the ODI series, India will also play a five-match T20I series under the leadership of Asia Cup-winning skipper Suryakumar Yadav.
India Squads for Australia Tour 2025
ODI Squad:
Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal
T20I Squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar
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