IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: Virat Kohli’s rare duck fuels retirement rumours as netizens react to his 'hand gesture'
&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: Virat Kohli’s rare duck fuels retirement rumours as netizens react to his 'hand gesture'")
Netizens react to Kohli's 'hand gesture' after his flop show in Adelaide ODI Photograph: (Others)
For the first time in his ODI career, Virat Kohli got out on a duck in his successive One-Day innings.
Virat Kohli registered a rare yet unwanted feat in the ongoing ODI series against Australia. Following his eight-ball duck in the series-opener in Perth, Kohli got out on his successive score of zero – for the first time in his career, in the ongoing second One-Dayer in Adelaide on Thursday (Oct 23). After letting go of the first few balls, Kohli failed to put bat to ball on his fourth delivery that hit him right in front of the wickets, with Xavier Bartlett enjoying perhaps the biggest scalp of his brief ODI career.
However, what worried the Indian Cricket Team fans was Kohli’s hand gesture as he walked off the field straight to the pavilion.
As he crossed the boundary rope, Kohli acknowledged the fans, who happened to cheer for him, with a hand gesture that hints at his potential retirement from international cricket. Having already stepped aside from the remaining two formats earlier, Kohli returned to the One-Day side for the first time since March 2025, only to fall without scoring in back-to-back games.
Virat's return shall also make headlines this time, but for all the wrong reasons. A prolific run scorer in ODIs, where he has scored 14000 runs, including over 70 fifties and 50 hundreds, Kohli hasn’t looked or batted like one, with the fans fearing the worst – his retirement announcement.
Considering that social media has been buzzing with rumours of his and his batting partner Rohit Sharma’s potential retirement calls, his latest outings are not going to help his case for pressing for his place in the side till the next ODI World Cup two years later.
Here’s how the social media reacted to Virat’s hand gesture following his dismissal in the second ODI against Australia -
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer steadied the Indian innings, adding close to 90 runs for the third wicket. Rohit, who struggled against the new ball, also completed his fifty in the ongoing tie, his first since the Champions Trophy final in March this year.
