Virat Kohli dismissed for duck on ODI comeback as India reduced to 37/3
Perth, October 19
Indian veteran batter Virat Kohli's return to ODI cricket ended in a very disappointing manner, getting out for a duck against Australia in the first ODI at Perth on Sunday.
At the time of his dismissal, India were struggling at 24/2 after seven overs. Australia's spin bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly dived to his left to complete Kohli's catch at point.
The highly anticipated series opener against Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth marked the return of Kohli in ODIs for the first time since lifting the Champions Trophy on March 9 in Dubai.
After the Champions Trophy final, he competed in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in June, and since then has been out of action for months. Starc became the second bowler to dismiss Virat Kohli for a duck on two instances after James Anderson across all Internationals.
Before Kohli, Rohit Sharma's eagerly awaited return to international cricket was short-lived, as he was dismissed for eight runs by Josh Hazlewood.
Rohit, making his 500th international appearance for India, was removed by Hazlewood after edging the ball towards second slip, which was grabbed by the debutant Matthew Renshaw.
Earlier in the match, Australia had won the toss and opted to bowl first against India in the first ODI in Perth on Sunday at the Optus Stadium.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe(w), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Both Rohit and Kohli failing in the same match is worrying. 37/3 is a terrible start. The team management should seriously think about giving chances to younger players who are in form.
As an Australian fan, I have to say that was an amazing catch by Connolly! But honestly, I'm surprised to see Kohli struggle like this. He's usually so good against us.
This is exactly why we shouldn't put so much pressure on our senior players. Everyone has bad days. Let's support the team instead of criticizing. Shubman Gill as captain is doing well to handle this situation. 🇮🇳
The real concern is our batting lineup collapsing under pressure. We need to develop better bench strength. Too much dependency on Kohli and Rohit is showing today.
Starc becoming only the second bowler after Anderson to dismiss Kohli for a duck twice is quite a statistic. The Australian bowling attack is looking really dangerous today.
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