IND vs NZ: Indian batting star Virat Kohli equalled an embarrassing record after he was dismissed for a duck on Day 2 of the first Test match against the New Zealand cricket team in Bengaluru on Thursday. All of the Virat Kohli fans were expecting a big innings in the Bengaluru Test match against the New Zealand cricket team, however, the star batter failed to impress the fans as he disappointed yet another time, batting at number 3. Today, he lost his wicket without scoring any runs.
Virat Kohli’s Record-Equalling Duck: A Tough Day for the Indian Star
For the unversed, Kohli has been having a tough time scoring runs lately, and things didn’t improve as he got out for zero. Fast bowler Will O’Rourke bowled a short ball, which hit Kohli’s gloves and flew to leg gully, where Glenn Phillips took a good catch.
However, it wasn’t just Virat Kohli, the entire batting lineup struggled, failing to make an impact. The Kiwi bowlers took wickets easily, with Matt Henry taking five on his own. With India set to face Australia in the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar Trophy, their batting performance has become a major concern.
Notably, this was for the record-38th time when Virat was dismissed without scoring in an international game. He has equalled with New Zealand’s Tim Southee for the most ducks among active players. India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, is third on this list with 33 ducks.
Kohli’s No. 3 Batting Position Didn’t Work For India
In ODIs, the No. 3 position is often linked to former India captain Virat Kohli, but in Test matches, Kohli has mostly batted at No. 4. This changed when India’s current No. 3, Shubman Gill, missed the match due to neck stiffness, leading to Sarfaraz Khan being included and batting at No. 4 while Kohli moved up to No. 3.
Sarfaraz Khan also got out for a duck, bowled by Matt Henry, leaving India struggling at 12 runs for three wickets. Kohli, who last batted at No. 3 in a match against the West Indies in August 2016, has only played seven innings in this position, scoring 97 runs with an average of 16.16. In contrast, at No. 4, the 35-year-old has scored 7,355 runs at an average of 52.53, with 25 centuries and 21 fifties.
This match also marked Kohli’s 536th appearance for India across all formats, making him the second-most capped Indian player, behind Sachin Tendulkar (664), and surpassing MS Dhoni (535).
Kohli set an unfortunate record by becoming the active player with the most ducks in international cricket, notching his 38th zero, which ties him with New Zealand’s Tim Southee.
“Shubman Gill was unavailable for selection of the first Test due to a neck stiffness,” the Indian team management informed after the toss.
The first day’s play of the ongoing 1st IND vs NZ Test match was washed out due to persistent rain. India and New Zealand will play two more Tests, at Pune from October 24-28 and at Mumbai from November 1-5.
IND vs NZ Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke.
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