Star batter Virat Kohli didn’t have the best of times in the Adelaide ODI as well where he registered his second consecutive 50-over duck against Australia on Thursday. Kohli was caught plumb off a delivery by Xavier Bartlett and when he was going out of the ground, he raised his gloves to acknowledge the crowd. With many speculating that Kohli’s gesture was because off an impending retirement, Sunil Gavaskar said there wasn’t too much to read into the gesture and Kohli will continue to play in the near future.
“No, no, no. Don’t read too much into that gesture. The ovation he got when he came to bat was great. There were Indian supporters as well as Australian supporters who gave him such a great ovation. Especially the Australian fans gave him such an ovation, he acknowledged them. Because from where the players come out, there’s a members’ enclosure. Members mean the people who have played first class cricket, test cricket. So he gave them that acknowledgement. Don’t read too much into it,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“He’ll surely play in Sydney. Kohli is not a player who gives up. Do you think he’ll go out after scoring 0,0? No way. He’ll go out on a high. There was no signal. After Sydney, it’ll be the ODIs vs South Africa at home. There are many more ODIs. I’ll say that 2027 is the target for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma,” he added.
VIRAT KOHLI GONE FOR HIS SECOND DUCK OF THE SERIES!#AUSvIND | #PlayoftheDay | @BKTtires pic.twitter.com/jqIdvMeX9T
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 23, 2025
Kohli is playing for India for the first time since winning the Champions Trophy back in March where they defeated New Zealand in the final. After that, he retired from Tests ahead of the England series. The stalwart had already hung up his boots from T20Is last year after winning the T20 World Cup.
He made his much-anticipated return in India colours for the ongoing Australia ODI tour, with his eyes firmly set on playing the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa. But he has looked a little rusty in the middle, scoring back to back ducks in the first 2 matches, leading India to concede the series with one match remaining.
