Virat Kohli etched an unwelcome milestone in his illustrious ODI career on Thursday, registering consecutive ducks for the first time in 17 years during India's second match against Australia at the Adelaide Oval. The 36-year-old batting maestro, returning to white-ball cricket after a brief hiatus following Rohit Sharma's Test retirement earlier in the year, fell for a golden duck in the seventh over, trapped plumb in front by a sharp inswinger from debutant Xavier Bartlett. Having already endured a first-ball dismissal in the rain-curtailed opener in Perth—where Australia romped to a seven-wicket victory—Kohli's twin failures mark his first such sequence since his 2008 debut against Sri Lanka. Umpire Richard Illingworth's finger went up without hesitation, and Kohli, perhaps sensing the inevitable, opted against a review, trudging back to the pavilion as murmurs rippled through a capacity crowd. This slump compounds a challenging 2025 for the former captain, whose aggressive strokeplay has deserted him amid mounting scrutiny ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The dismissal arrived on a pitch offering seam-friendly conditions under overcast skies, with Australia captain Mitchell Marsh's decision to bowl first vindicated early. Kohli, positioned at No. 3 after openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill negotiated the new ball cautiously, faced just four deliveries: three defended tentatively before Bartlett's fourth jagged back thudded into his pads. Replays confirmed the ball clipping middle stump, underscoring Kohli's vulnerability to left-arm pace variations—a chink exposed in recent net sessions. Prior to this series, Kohli's Adelaide ledger gleamed with 244 runs across four ODIs at an average of 61.00, including two landmark centuries: a match-winning 107 against Australia in 2016 and a historic 107 against Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup—the first by an Indian in the tournament against their arch-rivals. Those knocks cemented his legacy at the venue, but Thursday's capitulation evoked ghosts of his lean T20 World Cup phase earlier this year, where technical tweaks under coach Gautam Gambhir yielded mixed results.

Kohli's travails cast a shadow over India's bid to level the three-match series, trailing 0-1 after Perth's collapse while chasing 203. Sharma's acrobatic survival from a direct hit earlier amplified the drama, but Kohli's exit left the middle order exposed against a probing attack featuring Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Adam Zampa. With the team unchanged from Perth—banking on continuity despite the loss—captain Gill emphasised post-toss adaptability: "We would have bowled first as well. Happy to bat first... hopefully we'll get plenty of runs on the board." Australia's tweaks, introducing Alex Carey and Bartlett, injected freshness, with the latter's breakthrough underscoring their depth. Kohli's ongoing quest for a record-breaking 52nd ODI tonne—level with Sachin Tendulkar's 49 in the format—now hangs in the balance, his pursuit stalled at 51. Fans and pundits alike ponder if this is a temporary blip or a sign of adaptation struggles in an era of hyper-aggressive batting.

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As the match unfolded into the middle overs, Kohli's duck intensified pressure on the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to anchor the innings, with India eyeing 280-plus to challenge Australia's chasing prowess. The broader narrative transcends one player's form: for Kohli, synonymous with clutch performances, this unwanted feat—his third pair in ODIs but first consecutive—tests resilience forged over 296 matches and 13,906 runs. Sharma's presence, marking their first joint ODI outing since the T20 World Cup triumph, adds emotional layers to a rivalry that defines Indo-Aussie cricket. With the series decider in Canberra looming, Kohli's redemption arc could pivot the tourists' fortunes, reminding all why he remains India's linchpin despite the dips. In Adelaide's storied stands, where legends are made and milestones mourned, Thursday etched another chapter in the chase for greatness.

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