Star India batter Virat Kohli departed for Australia on Saturday ahead of a five-match Test series, starting November 22. Kohli has come under the scanner of late during his recent outing with the bat during Team India 0-3 whitewash at home against New Zealand. He scored just 93 runs across six innings as India lost a Test series at home after 12 years. With the first Australia Test getting underway in Perth on November, Kohli will be eager to have a positive impact.
On Friday, Kohli was greeted by fans at the Mumbai airport ahead of his departure to Australia. The former India captain, was accompanied by his wife and kids, for the trip Down Under.
However, fans mobbed Kohli to click pictures with him. After clicking a few selfies, Kohli got irritated at fans and told "family ko chod ke thodi na selfie lunga".
He was also asking the paps not to pan the camera towards his family.
Earlier this week, Kohli celebrated his 36th birthday. He also attended an event hosted by banking and financial group HSBC, where he was surprised by fans who sang 'Happy Birthday' in unison to the Indian cricket stalwart. Upon a request from the event host Gaurav Kapur to sing, fans joined in to wish the cricketer.
Kapur reminded the audience that Kohli's birthday was just two days prior, before the crowd joined in and sang for him in chorus.
Kohli was left smiling upon receiving such a heartwarming reception from the crowd, and even slipped in a "that's enough, thank you" to stop the crowd from singing along for too long.
The right-handed batter was the top-retention pick for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for Rs 21 crore, ahead of the mega auctions.
Apart from him, RCB also retained batter Rajat Patidar for Rs 11 crore and pacer Yash Dayal for Rs 5 crore.
The IPL 2025 auction will be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.