The Australia ODI series marks Kohli's return to international cricket for the first time since March 2025.
India’s star batter Virat Kohli spoke about his much-awaited return to international cricket after almost seven-month long hiatus.
Having retired from T20Is and Tests, Kohli has now become one-format player, last representing India in the Champions Trophy 2025. He hasn’t played competitive cricket since winning the IPL 2025 title with RCB.
After the end of 18th IPL season in the first week of June, Kohli had left for London, along with his wife, Anushka Sharma, and their two children. He touched down India earlier this week to reunite with the national squad ahead of their flight to Australia.
The three-match ODI series against Australia, which began on October 19 in Perth, marked his return to international cricket for the first time since March this year.
Ahead of start of the first ODI, Kohli spoke to Ravi Shastri and Adam Gilchrist on Fox Cricket, where he opened up about his life after retiring from Test cricket.
“Yeah, I mean, look, it’s been a long time off for me since I retired from Test cricket. And yeah, as I was just catching up on life. You know, I haven’t been able to do anything for the last, I don’t know how many years and yeah, just being able to spend some time, some quality time with your kids, with family at home, it’s been a beautiful, beautiful phase and something that I’ve really enjoyed,” Kohli said.
With Shastri mentioning about Kohli now being a one-format player, the former India captain admitted the break has been rejuvenating.
“Well, to be honest, I mean, the amount of cricket I’ve played over the last 15-20 years, I’ve actually not rested at all, if that makes sense. I’ve probably played the most number of games in the last 15 years in international cricket, combining the IPL together as well,” Kohli stated.
"So for me, it was a very refreshing time off. I'm feeling as fit, if not fitter, than I've ever been before. And yeah, you can just feel the freshness when you know you can play the game and mentally you know what to do out there. It's just the physical preparation that really needs to be taken care of. At this stage, I realised that if my body is fit, if my reflexes are there, then the game awareness is already there," he explained.
On his preparations for the Australia tour, Kohli said: “My body has to match up with my game awareness. That’s something I try to keep up with. I live my life like that. And yeah, no issues at all. I’m feeling fresh here, moving really well in the nets and in the fielding sessions as well. So all good so far.”
Virat Kohli, 36, expressed his joy at returning to Australia, reflecting on years of intense cricket battles Down Under.
“It's always lovely to be back in Australia. A place that I've really enjoyed my cricket in. Hard-fought cricket over so many years, so many battles and yeah, eventually what I realized through the course of that whole journey was if you play your cricket competitive enough, hard enough and even if you're in the face of the opposition, you gain the respect after a certain point of time and that's what I experienced coming and playing here in this country and yeah, some good memories at this stadium. In Perth in general, I love coming to Perth. It's a really nice place, really relaxed. Something that I really enjoy and yeah, beautiful wickets to bat on, some pace and bounce which I always enjoy,” he remarked.