Former India skipper Virat Kohli has started to prepare for his comeback to the 50-over format. He had shared a post of his training session in London on Friday. Kohli, under the guidance of IPL franchise GT’s assistant coach Naeem Amin, attended an indoor training session.
“Thanks for helping out with the hit, brother. Always lovely to see you,” Kohli had written on his Instagram story and had also posted a photo of the practice session.
The star Indian batter looked fit and was seen wearing a grey T-shirt and blue trousers. This was one of the first few indoor practice sessions he had attended to gear up for his comeback match in international cricket.
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He had shared this post just a few hours after his pic in a grey beard had gone viral on social media. He got clicked with a fan, but what caught everyone’s attention was his salt and pepper look, where there were more grey strands on his beard. He was spotted with the grey beard during the practice session as well.
Kohli would next be seen in action during an ODI series against Australia, which would be held later this year. He was supposed to participate in the ODI series against Bangladesh this month, but the series got postponed.
See the post here:
RCB’s star batter was last seen in action in June this year during the IPL 2025 summit clash against Punjab Kings. He had scored a match-winning knock of 43 runs and helped the Bengaluru-based franchise win their first IPL title.
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He then flew to London a few days after the chaotic stampede that had occurred in their victory parade in Bengaluru. And when he was in London, he was seen attending a charity event, which was organized by Yuvraj Singh, and had also watched a Wimbledon match along with his wife Anushka Sharma.
Kohli hasn’t played for the country in the longest format after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. After putting up a below-par performance in that series, he surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from this format during IPL 2025. As per Delhi’s Ranji Trophy coach, Saranjeet Singh, Kohli had told him that he wanted to play in the Test series against England, but he still retired even before the squad was announced.
Kohli had jokingly revealed why he retired from the longest format and compared it to his beard getting grey.
He had also retired from the shortest format after helping the T20 World Cup last year. But he will continue to play in the 50-over format till the 2027 ODI World Cup.
He will try to take advantage of the preparation until the mega event, which will be held in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He was in sublime form during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, where he also smashed a hundred against arch-nemesis Pakistan and scored a brilliant knock of 84 runs during the semifinal against New Zealand. Till now, he has scored 275 runs this year at an average of 45.83.
He had scored 14,181 runs in the 50-over format, which also includes 51 hundreds. During the 2023 ODI World Cup, he grabbed attention by scoring 765 runs and thus broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record.