'Not many holes in that man's game': Duffy after being annoyed by RCB teammate Kohli's knock

In the ODI series opener at Eden’s Park, Auckland, Virat Kohli seemed to be batting on a different pitch. Kohli was not troubled by the pace and bounce the pitch had to offer. He remained unfazed despite rain interruptions and took India to the doorstep of victory with a 74-run knock. After India’s five-wicket win, New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy admitted that his Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate Kohli's approach to the run chase was impressive.

"Yeah, it was a bit annoying, wasn't it?" Duffy joked during the post-match press conference.

"Small targets like that, if you get a guy to come out with that kind of intent to knock it off, it can break the chase pretty easily. And he's a pretty good guy to do it, quite impressive, wasn't he?"

Duffy pointed out how Kohli was able to use the hook and pull shots to counter the extra bounce. He recalled how he did the same in the RCB nets earlier this year.

"He didn't struggle with the bounce. He got inside those hook shots, pull shots, and then he could whack you down the ground. No surprise, he's a good player. He's done it for a lot of years, and he did that to me in the nets a lot in Bangalore," Duffy said.

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Duffy wonders whether Kohli bats with the same intent if the score India are chasing is bigger or the visitors are batting first. He revealed he had an idea of how to bowl to him, which he learned in RCB nets. However, he feels that there are not many weaknesses in the 38-year-old's game to exploit.

"If they're batting first or there's a bigger score on the board, it would be interesting to see if he plays like that. I'm not sure, I don't know if he will," he said.

"I won't give away all their scouting tips. I did get some intel at the nets in Bangalore, but there aren’t many holes in his game, to be fair."

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Duffy also feels that the dimensions of Eden’s Park made it difficult to contain the top-order batter.

Eventually, Duffy dismissed Kohli in the 20th over. He went for the pull shot, but the ball hit the bottom of the bat. Without much control, the ball did not travel over the fence, and Tim Seifert took a regulation catch. His knock of 74 from 51 balls featured 13 fours and a six.

Duffy was the pick of the bowlers for the home side. After dismissing Kohli, he got rid of Axar Patel for a two-ball duck. The extra bounce helped Axar get caught at backward point. In his seventh over, Duffy used the short ball against Shreyas Iyer as well. The short ball ploy worked, and Iyer was caught at mid-wicket by Henry Nicholls. Duffy bowled seven overs, conceded 49 runs and bagged three wickets.

Duffy talks about huge toss factor

The second ODI of the series will be played on November 7 at Henry Stadium, Wellington. Duffy spoke about the challenges bowlers are facing as the games are starting later than before. He feels that the team bowling first has a huge advantage.

"Everyone wins the toss and bowls first for a reason," Duffy, who took 3 for 49 at Eden Park, said. "I'm not saying it's impossible [to defend], don't get me wrong. It's not like we're giving up as soon as we've lost a toss. But as soon as you get a little bit of moisture in the wicket - I thought tonight there was a bit of wind around, and we actually might not [get that moisture] but I guess the rain sort of adds that moisture that the dew would have otherwise.

"When it does skid on like that, it sort of takes away the tackiness and that sort of tennis-bally bounce we saw in their innings, which that's what I thought made the ball [skid]."

Duffy feels hosts’ score wasn’t enough

New Zealand faced a batting collapse. They were bowled out for 185 in 40.2 overs. The Daryl Mitchell run out was unfortunate. Otherwise, New Zealand may have managed to post a respectable total on the board. Duffy says that it was difficult to defend such a low score, especially when the batters came hard at them. He lauded the Indian pace attack for bouncing the batters out. Had it not been for Blair Tickner’s 23-ball 34 cameo, New Zealand’s score would be much lower.

"Obviously, I think they bowled really well. I think they've got some big boys in that bowling tech, and they used the bounce of the surface really well," Duffy said. "So, yeah, they did that well, and we probably just weren't at our best with the bat to start with, and then pretty tough to defend 180 [185], and then, you know, they can just come hard like that and just knock a few off pretty quick."

New Zealand’s batting may get bolstered by Devon Conway at the top. Conway got injured in a training session incident on the eve of the ODI series opener. He was involved in a collision with Matt Henry while attempting a catch. So far, there is no official word on whether Conway and Henry will play in the second ODI of the series.

When was the last time India-New Zealand played an ODI in Wellington?

The last time India and New Zealand played an ODI in Wellington, the visitors won the match by 35 runs in Kohli's absence. Ambati Rayudu starred with a 90-run knock. New Zealand could not chase down 253 and lost the match by 35 runs. 

Squads for India vs New Zealand second ODI

New Zealand squad: Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Tom Latham (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Nathan Smith, Matthew Fisher, Blair Tickner, Tim Seifert, Kyle Jamieson.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan.