India, Dec. 8 -- When Team India landed in Australia for its first ODI series in six months, Rohit Sharma looked into the team bus, spotted Virat Kohli, and broke into the kind of grin you'd expect from two friends reunited after a long, complicated chapter. Shubman Gill had hugged him just minutes earlier, but this was different. In Kohli, Rohit saw the one presence he'd probably missed the most, the familiar partner he'd grown alongside through the peaks, crises, and reinventions of Indian cricket. From wide-eyed prodigies to all-time greats, they've lived parallel careers. Perth was their first meeting since that night in Dubai, where they danced to dandiya after India won the Champions Trophy, Rohit's final match as captain.

Rohit, s...