There was a lot of hype surrounding the return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the international arena, but both the batsmen failed to live up to the expectations in the opening match of the three-match ODI series between India and Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth on October 19.
Batting for the first time since the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final, Virat Kohli disappointed the fans and the team as he was out for a duck after facing eight balls in the first ODI against Australia. After this, there was a flood of mixed reactions from fans on social media.
Virat Kohli was out for zero on his return
Mitchell Starc bowled a full ball outside the off stump, forcing Kohli to go for an ambitious cover drive. But the Indian batsman went too far and the ball caught the thick outer edge of his bat. It was swiftly flown towards backward point, where Cooper Connolly stunned the Indian fans by taking a spectacular diving catch to his left.
Also read: Kris Srikkanth’s dispute with Harshit Rana continues, despite Gautam Gambhir’s attack, he was ignored from India XI for the first ODI
The crowd went silent as soon as Kohli was out for a duck, leaving India in early trouble. After this big wicket, Starc has become the second bowler after great England fast bowler James Anderson to dismiss Kohli twice for ducks in all international matches.
After the flop show on his return, fans are trolling Kohli for his rare failure. Some fans criticized the former Indian captain’s eagerness to play cover drives early in the innings, while some were disappointed with his poor outing amid ongoing speculation over his ODI future.
Here’s how fans reacted to Virat Kohli’s flop show in Perth:
Nothing but heartbreak
Look at Virat Kohli’s wicketThen Mitchell Starc took the wicket of Virat Kohli #ViratKohli #RohitSharma #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/eyooq5HPyB
– Logan (@SoyabKh98058705) 19 October 2025
The most hated person on earth right now#INDvsAUS#ViratKohlipic.twitter.com/bQebIDRQ7I pic.twitter.com/CPzUIXf9jG
As @cricketaakash Told you, you haven’t seen a drive like this #ViratKohli At the beginning of the ODI innings. #IndvsAus #IndvAus #AusvInd https://t.co/BeKBE0wzmj
– Movieman (@movieman777) 19 October 2025
Indian cricket fans were waiting #RohitSharma And #ViratKohli Batted for 6 months to get him out cheaply on Sunday morning#INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/rgDrlZcbpG
– Last Dance (@26lastdance) 19 October 2025
Chokli Promotion:
before the match after the match #INDvsAUS #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/WTP1Yn1vH2– Joshi⁰⁷𓃶 (@bheshdhoni07) 19 October 2025
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were playing today after 200 days, both disappointed and Suman Gill also broke up
With great care, preparations were made to see both of them early in the morning.#INDvsAUS #RohitSharma#ViratKohli#Stop #gill pic.twitter.com/zzM8vjb1Gp-Chandrashekhar Yadav (@CHANDRA01286620) 19 October 2025
Virat Kohli out on zero on 8 balls#ViratKohli #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/IoDAzgCwOp
– Rohit and Virat (@cricketmat9391) 19 October 2025
Been waiting so long to see this 8 ball duck for Kingo #IndianCricket #INDvsAUS #ViratKohli #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/9YuaPaDQka
– Miraj (@mirajansari70) 19 October 2025
Kohli ducked on 8 balls..
Bad news for fans after waiting for a long time to see them…#ViratKohli #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/p8odgD7Uza— Tsering Gafel ༅༎ཚིི་ཪིང་དགའ་འཕེལ།། (@Tsring_gaphel) 19 October 2025
India doesn’t need left right combo till No.4.
India need left-right combination when it comes to KL Rahul at number five
Test opener KL Rahul in this bouncy and seaming situation
correct
But when you can’t talk intelligently @GautamGambhir there is #IndianCricket #Stop #ViratKohli– Sagar Malyan (@imsmalyan) 19 October 2025
Gautam Gambhir revealed this whole night #INDvsAUS #RohitSharma𓃵 #ViratKohli #Stop pic.twitter.com/qxA5m48dLy
– Ritik_ (@Ritik_ColdTruth) 19 October 2025
Incredible situation!
Virat Kohli was out on zero for the first time in 30 ODI innings in Australia!
Taking Rohit and Virat seriously#ViratKohli #kingkohli #INDvsAUS #Cricket pic.twitter.com/uwSbwLgGxY pic.twitter.com/77vENyMHM2
– Voice of India (@ABHIJITSINGH025) 19 October 2025
I agree that Virat Kohli is a great modern-day player, but when it comes to correcting mistakes, he really struggles.
Why are the same mistakes being repeated again and again outside the off-stump?#ViratKohli #IndianCricket
– 𝔸𝕁𝔸𝕐 𝕁𝔸ℕ𝔾𝕀𝔻 (@iamajayjangirlr) 19 October 2025
One bad game and people felt like he’s finished, he should retire, blah, blah, stuffu, he’ll be back, he’s the king #ViratKohli
– (@p1ras) 19 October 2025
If Virat wants to play good cricket then he should come back to India for at least the remaining 2 years… play more domestically and spend more time in the nets with young cricketers #ViratKohli #ViratKohli𓃵 #INDvsAUS #AUSvsIND #IndianCricket
– Sanjukta (@tweet_sanjukta) 19 October 2025
PHR same 5th stump ball#ViratKohli #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/6FQGlOlOb1
– Zara (@kohlis_gurl) 19 October 2025
For me, the match started at 09:17 am till 09:28 am, 11 minutes of pure happiness
Thanks Kohli sir for standing at the crease. At least we got a chance to see you, capture some moments and see you hold the bat again after such a long time #ViratKohlipic.twitter.com/RPHyRfR9dl
— 𝗥 𝗡 𝗞 (@RNK1829) 19 October 2025
The shot that we used to love and appreciate from his bat has now become the worst nightmare for his fans.
This shot made him retire from Tests after Australia. And now again the same kind of out in Australia.
Nostalgia is done#ViratKohli #AUSvIND– Girish Patil (@runmachine_vk18) 19 October 2025
After seeing Rohit’s early wicket and Virat’s wicket, I..
I am brokenWaited a whole month to see this. #INDvsAUS #RohitSharma #ViratKohli
— 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐔 𝐘𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐕 (@anuyadav_) 19 October 2025
Virat Kohli scored 0 runs in just 8 balls!
Even the king is on his day sometimes#INDvsAUS #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/sFodqAYy9Y– Ashish Pandey (@AshishPandeyH) 19 October 2025
Virat Kohli and the off-stump universe are back.#INDvsAUS #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/8kMcG6OxeF
– Shanu (@Shanu_3010) 19 October 2025
to be continued…