The men’s cricket team of the Indian side departed from New Delhi for Australia on Wednesday morning for the upcoming white-ball series, including three ODIs and five T20Is. The trip marks the return of the two former captains and veteran batters, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, to international cricket since the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. 

It will also be the start of the new era for the Blue Brigade under the leadership of Shubman Gill. The opening game will be played on October 19 at the Optus Stadium in Perth before the focus moves to the Adelaide Oval on October 23, while the final fixture will be held two days later at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

See Also: “Matter of time…”- Former India star explains why India won’t miss Rohit Sharma in ODIs post-retirement

Key players were spotted at the Delhi airport, including captain Gill, Rohit, Virat, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh.

Watch: Rohit Sharma shares team bus seat with Virat Kohli ahead of AUS vs IND ODI series

A video has gone viral on social media platforms where Rohit was seen sitting together with Kohli on the team bus. Their respective fandoms went mad at the view. The Mumbai batter, however, missed his usual bus partner, Ravindra Jadeja, who has been omitted from the national side for the 50-over format, which has been surprising to the spinner and the fans.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sitting together on the team bus after a long time, but Rohit must surely be missing his usual seating partner, Ravindra Jadeja.🥺❤️ pic.twitter.com/NmWnMqvZZY

— 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐢⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) October 15, 2025

The last international game for Rohit and Kohli came during the final of the Champions Trophy 2025 against New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where the former claimed an impressive knock of 76 runs in 83 balls to be named the player of the match as the Blue Brigade maintained an unbeaten run in the campaign.

The head of the selectors for the BCCI selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, has confirmed that Rohit Sharma has been relieved from the ODI captaincy as their focus will be to remain in shape and form for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. This ODI series against Australia down under will be incredibly vital before the home series against New Zealand and South Africa.