Watch Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma leave with Team India for Australia series

The Indian Cricket Team departed from New Delhi for Australia on Wednesday, October 15, for the upcoming white-ball series, starting on October 19. Eight matches will be played - three ODIs and five T20Is. The tour is significant as it marks the comeback of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are only playing the ODIs. Shubman Gill has replaced the latter as the captain in the 50-over format, with Shreyas Iyer named as vice-captain.

The three ODIs will kick off on Sunday, October 19, at the Optus Stadium in Perth, followed by games on October 23 and 25. The T20I series will begin from October 29 to November 08. Notably, players from the Indian Cricket Team were spotted at the Delhi airport, including skipper Gill, Kohli, Rohit, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna.

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For the unversed, Kohli and Rohit were last seen in action during India's title-winning Champions Trophy 2025 tournament in March earlier this year. While the latter was named player of the match for his terrific 76 off 83 balls, the former showed consistency throughout the campaign, finishing among the top five batters in the showpiece event.

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All eyes on Kohli, Rohit as India begins new era in ODI

It goes without doubt that the focus will be on the two experienced batters - Kohli and Rohit as India's World Cup 2027 dream starts with this very series Down Under. Already, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel has made Gill the captain, signaling a clear intention of which way they want to build the team for the World Cup, which is two years away. Although the former cricketer refrained from answering questions related two stalwart's future in ODI cricket, Gill answered the question with a straight bat, stating the experience the two players carry is absolute gold dust in a tournament like the World Cup.

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While Rohit and Kohli have not yet made any indications about this being their last ODI series, all eyes will be on how the two icons play in the three ODIs Down Under.