AUS vs IND 2025: 'He’ll need form quickly amid fierce competition’ - Ravi Shastri warns Virat Kohli ahead of Sydney ODI

Virat Kohli again finds himself in the spotlight, but this time for a different reason as he has been dismissed for consecutive ducks against Australia in the ongoing three-match series . The 36-year-old, who has retired from both T20Is and Tests, now only plays in the ODI format. His four-ball duck in Adelaide on october 23 marked the first time he has recorded back-to-back ducks in ODIs, following an eight-ball duck in the first ODI in Perth on October 19.

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri stated

that Kohli needs to regain form quickly, noting that it will not be an easy task. Despite his current slump, Kohli remains one of the most prolific ODI players in history. He is the third-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, having amassed 14181 runs and being only behind Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara. After a rare failure in Perth, Kohli was expected to come back to his run-scoring self, especially since the second ODI of the series was at Adelaide Oval, a venue where he has been particularly successful, with 975 runs across formats at an impressive average of 65, including five centuries.

“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.

Kohli has been particularly prolific at Adelaide Oval in the 50-over format, having scored two centuries at the venue in this format. His first one came during the 2015 World Cup against Pakistan, where he struck 126 off 107 while the second one came in 2019 against Australia in the second match of a three-match series, as he scored 104 off 112.

Earlier, Shastri had commented on the comebacks of both Kohli and Rohit Sharma to international cricket after such a long hiatus. Rohit, who returned alongside Kohli, contributed 73 runs in India’s narrow two-wicket loss at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

“When you come back from a long layoff, you are obviously going to be rusty. It’s not easy for any overseas team to land in Australia, say, two days prior to a game in Perth and adjust to those conditions straight away, especially when you have that extra bounce and against quality fast bowlers. But I think only time will tell. They’ll go to Adelaide, they have some time off to get into the nets, get their minds sorted and get back into action. So I’m in no hurry to judge, but it’s when you come back at that age, after some time, it’s about how much you’re enjoying the sport and how much hunger is there and passion is left in you to play the game,” said Shastri.