‘Everyone Expected A Big One, But…’: Sunil Gavaskar’s Bold Take On Virat Kohli

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that, having scored truckloads of runs across formats for almost 17 years now, ace batter Virat Kohli won’t announce his international retirement just after two consecutive ducks against Australia. Gavaskar rubbished retirement rumours, clarifying that Kohli’s gloves gesture was a salute to the Adelaide crowd’s standing ovation.

Kohli raised his gloves to thank the Adelaide Oval crowd for their standing ovation after his dismissal.

What seemed like a sentimental moment after Kohli’s final innings at one of his favourite venues soon sparked online speculation about a potential retirement hint.

“Look, the man has more than 14,000 runs, 52 ODI centuries and I think 32 Test centuries. He has scored thousands

and thousands of runs, so he is allowed a couple of failures,” Gavaskar said while speaking to Sports Tak.

“Don’t read too much into what has happened; there is plenty of cricket left, plenty of cricket ahead. Maybe Sydney will see a big innings from him. Adelaide, of course, has been his favourite ground in Australia, both at the Test level and in ODIs,” Gavaskar added.

“He (Kohli) has scored hundreds there, so naturally, everyone was expecting a big one here as well. But that did not quite happen,” Gavaskar said.

After an eight-ball duck in the Perth opener, Kohli entered Adelaide under immense expectations, backed by his Bradman-esque record at the venue.

However, Kohli’s stay in Adelaide lasted only four deliveries. Coming in after captain Shubman Gill’s dismissal to Xavier Bartlett in the seventh over, he began carefully, leaving the first three balls outside off.

But the fourth, which jagged back off the seam, beat Kohli’s defence. Expecting the outswinger, he was deceived by the movement and was rapped on the pads. 

A dejected Kohli started the long walk back to the pavilion, but paused as the Indian fans rose in applause. He raised his gloves in acknowledgement, a gesture that soon ignited widespread speculation.