'Do you really think he will retire after getting 0 and 0?' - Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli saying goodbye to ODI cricket

India ace batter Virat Kohli has had a tough start to Australia with consecutive ducks in Perth and Adelaide, as the visitors lost both the matches. With the third and final ODI of the series set to be held on October 25 in Sydney, fans and cricket pundits are left wondering if this will be the end of the road for the modern-day great on the international arena.

Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar was asked to share his opinion on the possible retirement of Virat from the 50-over formats, and eventually, international cricket, after the Sydney match. Gavaskar expressed himself that the 36-year-old will not get carried away by emotions after just two bad knocks. He says that he will not just play the upcoming series against South Africa, but also the 2027 World Cup.

“Virat Kohli is not someone who walks away after two low scores. Do you really think he’ll retire after getting 0 and 0? Absolutely not. He’ll want to finish on a high. There’s still the Sydney match, the home series against South Africa, and many more ODIs to come. I believe he’ll play through to the 2027 World Cup, alongside Rohit Sharma. Even the Australians would have loved to see him score big,” Gavaskar said during an interaction, as quoted by Odisha TV.

The cricketer-turned-commentator further opined that someone who boasts stats like Virat Kohli is certainly allowed to fail in two consecutive games. According to the 76-year-old, this is not the end of the journey for the New Delhi-born. 

“The man has over 14,000 runs, 52 ODI centuries, and 32 Test hundreds. He’s scored so many runs for India that he’s allowed a couple of failures. There’s still plenty of cricket left in him. Maybe we’ll see a big innings from him in Sydney. Adelaide has always been one of his favourite grounds, so expectations were high, but it just wasn’t his day," said Gavaskar.