Ganesh Kendale
Virat Kohli’s lean patch extended with another poor outing when he was dismissed for a duck in India’s first innings of the opening Test against New Zealand at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Proceedings in the match began on Thursday after rain washed out the entire opening day. Surprisingly, despite overcast skies and forecast for more rain, India captain Rohit Sharma opted to bat first after winning the toss and the decision backfired.
India were put on the mat by Kiwi pacers, who left the hosts reeling at lunch with the scoreboard reading 34 for 6 in 23.5 overs.
The sorry scorecard showed four Indian batsmen getting dismissed without scoring, including Kohli who added another duck to his unwanted record.
With 38 ducks now, Kohli is the only proper batsman in the list of top five Indians with most zeros in international cricket. He was dismissed by William O’Rourke, caught in leg-gully while trying to defend an in-coming delivery that rose sharply.
Top five Indian players with most ducks in international cricket:
| Batsman | Ducks | Innings | Tests | ODIs | T20Is |
| Zaheer Khan | 43 | 227 | 29 | 14 | 0 |
| Ishant Sharma | 40 | 173 | 34 | 5 | 1 |
| Virat Kohli | 38 | 596 | 15 | 16 | 7 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 37 | 284 | 19 | 17 | 1 |
| Anil Kumble | 35 | 307 | 17 | 18 | 0 |
Interestingly, Sachin Tendulkar is sixth in that list with 34 ducks in 782 innings (14 in Tests and 20 in ODIs). Kohli last scored a duck in Tests 32 innings ago at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai when New Zealand toured India in 2021.
In Bengaluru on Thursday, besides Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were also dismissed for a zero.
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit scored 13 and 2 respectively, while Rishabh Pant was batting at 15 not out at lunch and will be joined by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Young Kiwi pacer O’Rourke led the visitors’ bowling chart with figures of 3 for 13, while Matt Henry took 2 for 12 and Tim Southee 1 for 8.
(Stats Courtesy: Rajesh Kumar)
