Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) former skipper Virat Kohli's inconsistent run in Indian Premier League (IPL) continued in the clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as he registered a golden duck in the first over of the innings.
This was Kohli's first golden duck after 2017 when he was dismissed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile. In the 2017 clash between the two heavyweights, RCB were bundled out for lowest IPL score ever (49).
The delivery from LSG bowler Dushmantha Chameera was not extraordinary. Kohli tried to flash his blade at a short and wide delivery. He did not get it from the middle of the bat and the thick edge went into backward point fielder Deepak Hooda’s hands.
After getting dismissed, Kohli stood at the crease in disbelief. Then, he smiled and walked back to the dugout. Chameera got the wicket of Anuj Rawat off the previous delivery and was on a hat-trick after Kohli’s wicket. The Sri Lankan pacer did not get a hat-trick as Glenn Maxwell hit him for a boundary on the first ball of the next over.
This was Kohli’s seventh duck in IPL. In this season Kohli has scored 119 runs from seven games at an average of 19.83. He started off well with an unbeaten 41-run knock against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the losing cause. Two games later, he came close to hitting a half-century against Mumbai Indians (MI) but missed it by two runs due to controversial DRS decision.
The 33-year-old was expected to perform better by many former and current cricketers after relinquishing the captaincy in all formats. However, apart from the century drought at international level, he has struggled to score runs consistently as well.
Before the encounter against LSG, RCB were placed fourth on the points table with four wins from six games. Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has been RCB’s saviour this season with solid knocks in the middle order as their top-order has not been firing enough.
