Senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were seen batting side-by-side during India's first training session in Australia ahead of the three-match ODI series. The duo will be making their much-awaited return to international cricket after months of absence in the coming one-day assignment that is set to commence from October 19.
Notably, Rohit and Virat's last appearance for India came in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in March. Though they were expected to make a return to Test cricket in the five-match series against England, both of them shockingly announced their retirements from the format ahead of the highly-important assignment.
Rohit and Virat's intense net session
Both Rohit and Virat batted side-by-side for close to 30 minutes each in the nets where they faced pacers Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and many other local bowlers. While Kohli looked to be fluent for the most of the session, Rohit made a sluggish start but picked up his game as the session progressed. The Australia tour can very well be the duo's last and they will be looking to leave on an impressive note.
Rohit's long chat with Gambhir
Another part of the session that garnered a lot of attention was Rohit's long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir. The two were seen exchanging words with each other after Rohit had finished his net session. On the other hand, Kohli was seen having a chat with bowling coach Morne Morkel after his net session came to an end. The Indian team will be participating in two more net sessions before the commencement of the series and will be held on October 17 and 18.
India's squad for Australia ODIs: Shubman Gill (Captain), 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.