A long distance relationship doesn’t need daily togetherness to survive — Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli proved exactly that. In the first six months after their December 2017 wedding, the couple reportedly managed just 21 days together in the same city. Between an international cricket calendar and a packed shooting schedule, they built their early marriage mostly on video calls, quick airport hugs, and carefully planned weekends.
Key Takeaways
- Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli spent only about 21 days physically together in the first six months of their marriage, as widely reported by Indian entertainment media.
- Kohli’s cricket tours and Sharma’s film commitments kept the two on different continents for large stretches of that period.
- Their situation mirrors a wider trend: more urban Indian couples now navigate a long distance relationship because of travel-heavy, high-pressure careers.
- Couples who make it work tend to protect small daily rituals rather than chase big, rare reunions.
How Many Days Did Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli Spend Together After Marriage?
Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli got married in a private ceremony in Tuscany, Italy, on 11 December 2017. It was a fairy-tale wedding, but the honeymoon phase barely got a runway.
Reports at the time noted that between December 2017 and June 2018, the newlyweds were together for roughly 21 days out of nearly 180. Kohli was away on India’s tour of South Africa soon after the wedding, followed by IPL commitments, while Sharma was juggling shoots for her home production and other film projects.
For a couple this famous, the gap between “just married” and “barely home” became its own talking point — and, oddly, a fairly relatable one for anyone in a long distance relationship with a demanding job.
Why Do Virat Kohli’s Cricket Career and Anushka Sharma’s Film Career Keep Them Apart?
Kohli’s calendar isn’t really his own. International cricket runs on a year-round cycle of Test series, ODIs, T20Is, and the IPL, much of it played outside India. Add training camps and sponsor commitments, and the number of “free” weeks shrinks fast.
Sharma’s schedule is just as unforgiving. Film shoots often run for weeks at a stretch, frequently in a different city or country from wherever Kohli happens to be playing that month. Add her work as a producer through Clean Slate Filmz, and her diary fills up independently of his.
A Long Distance Relationship Built Around Two Demanding Careers
What made their early marriage a genuine long distance relationship wasn’t distance in the geographic sense alone — it was two unpredictable calendars that rarely lined up. A cricket tour doesn’t pause for a film’s release date, and a shoot schedule doesn’t bend around a Test match.
What Has Anushka Sharma Said About Managing a Long Distance Relationship?
In interviews over the years, Sharma has spoken candidly about the adjustment — long-haul flights, time-zone-juggled video calls, and learning to treat a few days together as “enough” rather than waiting for a perfect stretch of free time. She’s also spoken about traveling to watch Kohli play whenever her own schedule allowed it, turning cricket tours into working holidays.
Kohli, for his part, has credited Sharma with helping him manage pressure on and off the field — a reminder that a long distance relationship, when it works, can still function as a steady support system even without daily physical presence.
How Do Other Busy Indian Couples Handle a Long Distance Relationship?
Anushka and Virat aren’t an outlier so much as a high-profile example of something increasingly common. Consulting professionals on client sites, IT employees on foreign postings, armed forces couples, and dual-career urban professionals all deal with versions of the same problem.
| Couple or Profession | What Keeps Them Apart | How They Stay Connected |
| Anushka Sharma & Virat Kohli | Cricket tours and film shoots | Daily calls, trips timed around match and shoot breaks |
| Defence force couples | Postings and deployments | Scheduled calls, planned leave, letters and parcels |
| IT and consulting couples | Onsite projects in different cities or countries | Shared calendars, weekend flights, video dinners |
| Diplomatic and corporate transfers | Postings abroad on different timelines | Time-zone-adjusted routines, frequent short visits |
The common thread across every version of a long distance relationship listed above is the same one Sharma and Kohli seem to rely on: structure. Random effort doesn’t hold a relationship together across time zones — a routine does.
What Can Busy Couples Learn From a Long Distance Relationship Like Kohli-Anushka’s?
Relationship counsellors who work with dual-career Indian couples point to a few habits that separate the pairs who drift from the ones who stay close, even when the days apart pile up.
- Protect a daily check-in. Even a five-minute call at a fixed time beats an occasional two-hour one.
- Plan around the calendar, not around spontaneity. A tour schedule or a shoot schedule is known months in advance — book time off around it.
- Separate quality from quantity. Twenty-one focused days can matter more than sixty distracted ones.
- Keep independent support systems. Friends, family, and work life outside the relationship ease the loneliness of the gaps.
- Communicate the boring stuff too. Sharing ordinary details of the day, not just big updates, keeps the relationship from feeling like a series of check-ins.
Cricket fans tracking Kohli’s own numbers can see just how packed his year typically is on his official career profile on Wikipedia, which lists a touring schedule that barely leaves gaps for a settled home life. That travel load is the backdrop against which this entire long distance relationship has played out.
None of this makes a long distance relationship easy. It just makes it manageable — which, for two people running full-time careers at the top of their fields, is often the more realistic goal than constant togetherness.
FAQ
How long have Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli been married?
They married on 11 December 2017 in Tuscany, Italy, and have been married for close to eight years as of 2025.
How many days did Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli spend together after their wedding?
Reports from Indian entertainment media said the couple spent roughly 21 days together in the first six months of marriage, largely due to Kohli’s cricket tours and Sharma’s film shoots.
Why are Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma often apart?
Kohli’s international cricket calendar and Sharma’s film and production schedules frequently place them in different cities or countries at the same time.
What helps a long distance relationship survive demanding careers?
Regular short check-ins, planning visits around known work schedules, and keeping a strong personal support system outside the relationship all help.
Do long distance relationships actually work in the long run?
Many do, provided both partners communicate consistently and treat the time they do get together as a priority rather than an afterthought.
Conclusion
Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli’s early marriage shows that a long distance relationship isn’t automatically a fragile one. With two all-consuming careers and barely three weeks together in half a year, they leaned on routine, communication, and realistic expectations instead of constant proximity — a template plenty of busy Indian couples are now quietly following themselves.