Virat Kohli's record at Adelaide Oval: Perfect venue for King to regain ODI form

Virat Kohli is more Australian than most Australians. He is a unique character filled with passion and an in-your-face attitude. When the Australians tried to intimidate the entire world, Kohli stood apart and gave it back to them. Whether it was his maiden BGT in 2012 or his first series as a captain in 2015. But now, when he has found peace in his inner self, the legendary batter is on his farewell Australia tour.

Having retired from T20Is last year and, quite surprisingly, from Tests earlier this year, one-day internationals remain his only saving grace. Rarely does an ODI bilateral series build on this much hype. But with Kohli and Rohit Sharma returning after for the first time since March 2025, the India vs Australia ODIs are the talk of the town. Unfortunately, both the legends failed in the first chapter in Perth. While Rohit did look much better from the BGT, Kohli played a rash shot outside off-stump again.

Thankfully, Kohli now returns to his favourite hunting ground. The second ODI will be played at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, October 23 and it provides a perfect platform for Kohli to hit his straps once more. It is ever-so important for the Delhi-born lad to get back into form. Although there’s nothing left to prove for Kohli, he would still need some runs under his belt to have a shout for the ODI World Cup 2027.

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Virat Kohli & his love-affair with Adelaide Oval

Good news for Indian fans, as it has risen up a lion once again. And now he enters his favourite hunting ground—the Adelaide Oval. Yes, the Delhi-born lad has dominated everywhere he has played, but something is different at the Oval. It is the same venue where Kohli announced himself in Test cricket, hammering 116. It was the game where all Indian batters were silenced by a lethal Aussie bowling attack, but Kohli stood tall, forcing everyone to take notice of him.

Then in late 2014 and early 2015 came a streak of big scores. Australian bowling attacks, featuring the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, and Ryan Harris, were clueless against the ‘Showman’. 115, 141, 107, & 90* were his four consecutive scores. In ODIs, Kohli has domimated as well, scoring two hundreds the last two times he has represented Men in Blue in the format here. One of those came at the 2015 ODI World Cup against Pakistan.

In total, Kohli has always dominated in Adelaide, scoring 975 runs at an insane average of 65.00, with 5 hundreds and four fifties (across formats). In fact, this figure means that Kohli is the highest non-Australian run-getter at the Adelaide Oval.

Fun fact: Kohli (957) has scored more runs at the venue than Sir Don Bradman (970), Steve Smith (934), Greg Chappell (747), Shane Watson (729), and Adam Gilchrist (687). Mind you, all these batters have played way more innings in Adelaide than Kohli himself (apart from Bradman).