Fanboy moment: RCB supporter gets a lifelong memory with Kohli’s autograph

Dubai: A Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fan had a once-in-a-lifetime moment when he received an autograph from Virat Kohli at Delhi airport, just before Team India departed for their white-ball tour of Australia.

As the Indian team boarded the bus to head to Terminal 3, Kohli — seated inside — noticed a young fan in an RCB jersey holding a “Kohli” poster outside the team hotel. In a heartwarming gesture, the 36-year-old batting legend asked security personnel to bring him the poster. He signed it and had it handed back to the ecstatic fan, who then posed proudly for a picture with Kohli visible behind the bus window.

India flew out to Perth on Wednesday morning for a limited-overs series against Australia, beginning October 19. Led by Shubman Gill, the ODI squad includes senior players like Kohli and Rohit Sharma, both of whom return to international cricket after an eight-month hiatus following their retirement from Tests in May.

After IPL 2025, Kohli had spent several months in London with his family, resuming training there and completing his mandatory pre-season fitness assessment under BCCI supervision. He landed in Delhi just a day before the team’s departure.

The series will commence with the 50-Over fixtures on Sunday, and the second and third ODIs will be played on October 23 and 25. The five T20Is will be played from October 29 to November 8.

It will be followed by five T20Is from October 29 to November 8.

While Kohli and Rohit return to the ODI setup, head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have yet to confirm their long-term roles with the ODI side, including plans for the 2027 World Cup. For now, the BCCI is taking a series-by-series approach, with both players focusing solely on limited-overs formats.

Apart from Kohli, Rohit, and Gill, other team members seen at the airport included Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna.

ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Harshit Rana, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.