With Virat Kohli falling for a second consecutive duck with his four-ball duck in the second ODI against Australia at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, the 36-year-old Indian batting star once again finds himself in the spotlight. With Kohli having retired from the T20 as well Test format, the Indian batsman now only plays in the ODI format and Thursday was also the first time that he fell without scoring in back to back ODIs after his eight- ball duck in the first ODI at Perth. Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri believes Virat Kohli has to get some form ‘pretty quickly’ and it’s not going to be easy.
“He’ll have to get some form pretty quickly. The competition for places is such in India in white-ball cricket, no one is going to relax, whether it’s Virat or Rohit or anyone in the team. It’s not going to be easy, there is competition. He missed out again today, he was a little tentative with his footwork. It doesn’t happen often, his record in one-day cricket is phenomenal, so for him to get two ducks on the trot, he’ll be disappointed.” Shastri said while commentating on Fox Sports during the second ODI.
Fans started to speculate if Kohli could be heading towards retirement after he was seen waving goodbye to the crowd in Adelaide after getting dismissed. But Sunil Gavaskar dismissed this notion, saying that star batter isn’t someone who will call it quits after two failures.
“Virat Kohli is not the type of player to give up after two ducks. He will aim to retire on a high, playing in Sydney, followed by the ODI series in South Africa, and then the 2027 World Cup alongside Rohit. Even the Australians would have been disappointed — they didn’t get to see a big score from Virat Kohli. I think he was simply acknowledging the crowd with his gloves. Normally, when you get a big score, you acknowledge it with your bat raised, or your helmet or cap off. But this was just his way of thanking the crowd for the reception and the ovation they gave him. Don’t read too much into it,” said Gavaskar.
