Fans love Kohli’s touching gesture for Gill & Iyer

Shubman Gill made his ODI captaincy debut for Team India in Perth on Sunday (October 19), but his first game as India captain in the 50-over format of the game also ended with India’s defeat. Gill, who

scored a century in his first Test as India captain earlier this year, could only manage to score 10 runs from 18 balls after Mitchell Marsh invited the visitors to bat first at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

Ahead of the start of India’s innings in the rain-hit match in Perth, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who also featured in the first ODI, won hearts for his gesture for Gill and his ODI deputy Shreyas Iyer.

In a video going viral on the internet, Kohli can be seen stepping aside to allow India’s ODI captain, Shubman Gill, and ODI vice-captain, Shreyas Iyer, to take the field first for the national anthem.

Here’s a look:

The way Virat Kohli call captain Shubman Gill and vice captain Shreyas Iyer to move forward for national anthem ❤️pic.twitter.com/h8GmjuSkRU

— GillTheWill (@GillTheWill77) October 19, 2025

In the first India-Australia ODI, which ended with a seven-wicket win for the hosts, apart from Gill, Kohli, Iyer and Rohit Sharma also failed to do much with the bat. While Kohli failed to open his account even after facing eight balls, Rohit was sent back to the pavilion by Josh Hazlewood on the fourth ball of the fourth over of the match.

The right-handed batter faced 14 balls and, with the help of one four, added 8 runs to India’s total. Iyer, who was India’s highest run-getter in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, scored 11 runs from 24 balls. He was caught behind by wicketkeeper Josh Philippe off Hazlewood’s bowling.

2nd ODI in Adelaide

The second ODI of the ongoing series will be played on Thursday (October 23) at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide. It will be a must-win fixture for the Men in Blue, as a defeat there would allow the Aussies to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

For the match in Adelaide, where Kohli has played many memorable knocks in the past, Indian team management could consider including Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI. Kuldeep has impressed with his performances in the last couple of series for the Indian team. He finished as the highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup 2025 and dismissed the highest number of batters in the India-West Indies Test series.