India faced an early setback in the ongoing match against England in Lucknow's Ekana's stadium with Virat Kohli registering his first-ever duck in World Cup history. Kohli walked in to the ground with an intent to emulate Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record of smashing 49th ODI century on Sunday, but things unfolded differently for Kohli as he was sent to pavilon without scoring a single run.
India suffered a shaky start, losing three crucial wickets under 50 runs.
Despite David Willey delivering a maiden over to start, India's opener Rohit Sharma kicked off the innings in his typical style. England's Chris Woakes quickly removed Shubman Gill, having him out for just 9 runs. Soon after, aiming to achieve his 49th ODI century and tie a record, Virat Kohli stepped onto the pitch in the closing moments of the fourth over. However, his time at the crease was cut short when Willey dismissed him, marking his first ever duck in the World Cup.
Kohli aspirations were evident, and the disappointment was even more apparent when he returned to the pavilion. Cameras captured a moment post his dismissal where Kohli, consumed by frustration, landed a few punches on the dressing room sofa in utter anger, revealing the emotional toll of his brief innings.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE…
It was Kohli’s 34th duck for Men in Blue and has the joint-fifth most ducks for Team India. It was also Virat’s 10th innings against England where he failed to open his run account.
Kohli got off to a patchy start and pressure kept on mounting when he failed to score in the first eight deliveries. Trying to break free from this shackling start, he attempted an ambitious shot over the mid-off area off David Willey. However, England's Ben Stokes ensuring a clean catch to give Kohli his marching order.
Before the match, Kohli stood as India's top run-getter and second overall to notch most runs in the ongoing ODI World Cup. He accumulated 354 runs in five games, boasting an outstanding average of 118 and a commendable strike rate of 90.53 riding on a century and three fifties.
Meanwhile, after losing the toss Rohit said,“We wanted to bat first, we have had a good time batting second. It’s a good surface, it has played well for the 100 overs. It’s quite important to think like that and is also important to play well. We have played some good cricket. It's always good to have a break. It's nice to come back here and get back into business. We are playing the same team we played in the last game.”
India's Playing XI
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England's Playing XI
Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
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