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Ravi Shastri requests Virat Kohli to regain form amidst tough competition for India ODI spots, with Rohit Sharma also under pressure ahead of World Cup selection.
Virat Kohli reacts as he walks back to the Indian dressing room. (Screengrab/X)
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that neither Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma can relax ahead of the long ODI season with so much competition for spots in the Indian team, adding that Kohli quickly needs to find form to ensure that he remains in the scheme of things.
Fitness may never be a problem for Kohli, but his place in the ODI XI is under scrutiny after consecutive ducks in the ongoing Australia series. Form will be the deciding factor for selectors.
Playing his first international series since the Champions Trophy seven months ago, Kohli was expected to continue his fine form against a familiar opponent. However, his farewell tour of Australia has been challenging.
Kohli fell for an eight-ball duck to Mitchell Starc in Perth and was dismissed by a nip-backer from Xavier Bartlett in Adelaide, registering consecutive ducks for the first time in his ODI career.
With only the Sydney ODI on Saturday, October 25, left in the series, Shastri has urged Kohli to regain form and bag his spot in the World Cup team.
“He will 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 is Virat or Rohit or anyone in the team,” Shastri said while speaking to Fox Sports.
Indian cricket has changed over the past seven months, entering a transition phase where no cricketer is guaranteed a spot across formats, not even Kohli. In the ODI setup, he faces stiff competition from emerging talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma.
“It isn’t going to be easy; there is competition. He has missed out again today; he was a little tentative with his footwork. It does not happen often; his record in one-day cricket is phenomenal, so for him to get two ducks on the trot, he will be disappointed,” Shastri said.
October 23, 2025, 22:32 IST
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