Australia defeated India by 7 wickets in the rain-affected first ODI. India’s batting, which came to bat first after losing the toss, disappointed, Virat Kohli (0) and Rohit Sharma (8), playing international matches after 224 days, flopped. Captain Shubhman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer also did not play. India scored 136 runs in 26 overs of play. Chasing the target, Australia won in 21.1 overs. After this, former cricketer R Ashwin raised questions regarding the playing 11. He said that the batsmen will have to do the batting, they will have to take responsibility and the team will also have to focus on bowling.

What did R Ashwin say

While talking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin first said that it was a bad day for Team India because due to rain, the overs were reduced and the toss was lost. Raising questions on the playing 11, he said, “I can understand why there are two spinners along with all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, because he wants depth in batting. Washington and Akshar can bat, but pay some attention to bowling also. These are big grounds, and if Kuldeep does not bowl with freedom on such grounds then where will he bowl.”

He further said, “He wants depth in batting, if you want to win the match with batting then the batsmen have to take responsibility, it is the role of the batsmen to score runs. You play better bowlers, do not play them just because you want extra batsmen.

Ravi Ashwin thrashed Gautam Gambhir for dropping Kuldeep Yadav & playing too many all rounders.

“Please focus on bowling too, if Kuldeep can’t bowl on these big grounds with freedom then where is he gonna bowl? They will talk about this batting depth but it is batter’s job to… pic.twitter.com/C4Uphr4Ed6

— Rajiv (@Rajiv1841) October 19, 2025

How many all-rounders do you need – Ashwin

In the first ODI against Australia, India had played 3 all-rounders in the playing 11. Nitish Kumar Reddy made his debut, Akshar Patel and Washington Sundar were playing with him as all-rounders. Ashwin said, “How many all-rounders do you want, there are three all-rounders. There was a time when there was not even a single all-rounder. There are Nitish, Vashi (Washington Sundar), Akshar. With Nitish, you cannot play with the two best spinners, so I cannot understand it.”

Virat Kohli is currently in Perth, where India vs Australia first ODI will be played. There are rumors that Kohli will take retirement from ODIs also after this series. Meanwhile, Kohli himself made a cryptic post on social media, which is fast going viral. Experts are linking it with World Cup 2027.

After reaching Perth, Virat Kohli made a post on ‘X’ (earlier Twitter) and wrote, ‘The only time you truly fail, is when you decide to give up.’ If we explain its meaning in Hindi, it is, ‘You really fail only when you decide to give up.’

The only time you truly fail, is when you decide to give up.

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) October 16, 2025

Meaning of this post of Virat Kohli

Earlier, Virat Kohli had shared a video of an advertisement, reposting which Virat wrote these things. Fans believe that Virat has set the tone for the 2027 World Cup. It is believed that through this post Kohli is trying to express his intentions that he still has a lot of cricket left in him. He wants to play more matches for India.

Let us tell you that the final of Champions Trophy 2025 was Virat Kohli’s last international match, after this he will be seen playing for the first time on October 19. After taking retirement from T20 last year, Virat also said goodbye to Test this year. Virat had scored a century against Pakistan in the group stage of the Champions Trophy, he played an important role in India’s victory by playing an innings of 84 runs in the semi-finals.

Gautam Gambhir gave this answer

Before leaving for Australia, Gautam Gambhir had said in Delhi on the question related to the future of Virat and Rohit, “We have to live in the present, hope that both of them will have a successful Australia tour. There is no doubt that both are great players, it has to be seen how their performance is on the Australia tour.”

An entire era will be known by the names of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, both are at the last stage of their careers. Smith has retired from ODI while Kohli is playing only ODI format. Kohli has taken retirement from Test and T20. If we talk about the great batsmen of the new era, Shubman Gill’s name will definitely be included in it. After the Test, he has been given the command of Team India’s ODI team, his first tour is in Australia. Since Gill is in Australia, let us tell you what Steve Smith’s record was till the age of 26. Currently Gill is 26 years old.

Similarity in the performance of Gill and Smith

Indian captain Shubman Gill is currently 26 years old. There is a striking similarity between his performance and that of Smith. Be it innings, centuries, half-centuries or ducks. So let’s first talk about Smith’s records till the age of 26.

What was Smith’s record till the age of 26?

At the age of 26, Steve Smith played 159 international innings in all three formats, in which he scored 6365 runs at an average of 40.80. By this time he had scored 19 centuries and 27 half-centuries. He could not open his account in 6 innings, till this time his highest score was 215 runs.

Shubman Gill’s record at the age of 26

Shubman Gill has played 155 international innings in all three formats, i.e. only 2 less than Smith. During this period he scored 6319 runs, i.e. 46 runs less than Smith. The number of centuries of both is equal (19-19). Talking about half-centuries, Gill scored 26 and Smith scored 27 half-centuries. Smith has been out on zero 6 times and Gill has been out on zero 7 times. Gill’s run scoring average was 45.78 while Smith’s was 46.80.

Shubman Gill’s performance shows that if his performance continues like this then he will definitely become the next king. Right now he is being prepared as captain for the 2027 World Cup. This will be his first test as captain in ODIs in Australia, which is not going to be easy at all.

Team India will play a 3-match ODI series on the Australia tour, the first ODI will be played in Perth on October 19. Tickets for all three matches of this series have been sold, there is a lot of craze about it because Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma are playing in it. Both have taken retirement from T20 and Test. Well, here we are telling you about those 3 big batsmen who have never been able to score a century in the ODI format in Australia. There is 1 player in this list, who is a part of the upcoming series and he will have a chance to change this figure by scoring a century this time.

The first match of India vs Australia ODI series will be played on 19 October at Optus Stadium. The second ODI will be played on 23 October at Adelaide Oval and the third ODI will be played on 25 October at Sydney Cricket Ground. All three matches will start at 9 am Indian time.

Rahul Dravid

Former captain and former head coach of India Rahul Dravid is a big name in the cricket world, but you will be surprised to know that he has never been able to score an ODI century in Australia. Dravid has played 22 ODIs in Australia, in which he scored 666 runs. He has scored 7 half-centuries in Australia, but has never been able to score a century.

Suresh Raina

Former cricketer Suresh Raina is also included in this list, he could never score a century in ODI in Australia. Raina played 15 matches in Australia, in which he scored 409 runs and scored 3 half-centuries. Raina retired from international cricket along with Dhoni in 2020.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul is also included in this list, who is part of the upcoming series with Australia (IND vs AUS ODI Series 2025). Rahul has played 3 ODIs in Australia, in which he scored 93 runs at a strike rate of 101.09. He played an inning of 76 runs in ODI in Australia, but he could not reach his century. Rahul is in good form, and it is expected that he will score at least 1 century in this tour.

India’s ODI squad against Australia

Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal.