Virat Kohli did start the ODI series against South Africa on a promising note after he scored a half-century (51 runs off 63 balls). But in the second ODI of the three-match ODI series which is currently being played at Boland Park, in Paarl, Kohli was dismissed for a duck.
Kohli’s good knock in the first ODI gave immense pleasure to Indian cricket fans and followers and it was thought that after stepping down as the captain of the Indian team, the Delhi-born batter will get back to his superb form.
But unfortunately that did not happen as Kohli could only play 5 balls and failed to score a single run.
A new record
And after this duck, a new record was attached to Kohli’s name and after this fans and followers started expressing their anger on social media.
Indian captain KL Rahul, won the toss and after reading a fairly dry pitch, decided to bat first. India looked solid initially as there was a 63-run opening partnership between skipper KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan.
But Dhawan (29 runs off 38 balls) was soon dismissed by Aiden Markram. After this dismissal, Kohli came out to bat at number three but he did not look confident enough in facing the opponent bowlers.
As a result of this shaky start Kohli soon had to be back to the pavilion. On the fourth delivery of the 13th over, Kohli’s attempted drive shot which was not timed properly was eventually caught by Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma standing at the cover region.
With this dismissal Kohli was out for a duck in ODI cricket for the first time since the year 2019. His last duck came against West Indies back in 2019, in Vishakhapatnam. Against South Africa, in the second ODI match, Kohli was out for a duck after 14 ODI innings.
While coming down to bat from number one to number seven, Kohli managed to equal the record of former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag in the matter of being dismissed without scoring a single run.
Kohli got out after scoring duck for the 31st time in international cricket and Sehwag has also been dismissed scoring duck, 31 times.
On the other hand, Sachin Tendulkar had been out after scoring a duck 34 times.
Batsmen who got out scoring zero most number of times in cricket while batting at number one to seven for India in international cricket-
34 - Sachin
31 - Kohli*
31 – Sehwag
Apart from this, Kohli has not been able to score a century for more than two years. This is the longest period of time in his ODI career during which he has not been able to score a century.
Number of innings without a century
17 innings in 2019 to 2022*
17 innings in 2011
16 innings in 2013
14 innings in 2010
