Bengaluru: India’s star batter Virat Kohli’s return to the No.3 spot after a gap of 8 years during the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand ended in disaster as he was dismissed for a 9-ball duck. Kohli has come into the spot as the usual No.3, Shubman Gill was ruled out of the match after not being fully fit.
Gill had neck stiffness and wasn’t fully fit for the contest, as revealed by the BCCI after the toss. Kohli last batted at No.3 in 2016 against the West Indies. It was expected that KL Rahul would have come in to bat at No.3 spot, given that he was familiar with the conditions at the Chinnaswamy stadium being the hometown star. However, India have decided to keep him in his new spot in the middle-order.
India needed Kohli’s services early as Rohit Sharma was cleaned up by Tim Southee early in the first innings. India had won the toss and opted to bat first, with the lights on full effect. The bowl was swinging in both dirtections with Southee and Matt Henry troubling the Indian openers.
Kohli looked tentative from the get-go as the ball continued to swing. Will O’Rourke would come in and delivered a beautiful delivery with the field placing also perfect. The ball would swing straight into Kohli’s chest and the Indian batter could only manage to get a glove on it. The ball would then fly to Glenn Philips, who completed a fine catch.
The Bengaluru crowd was left stunned as India found themselves in deep trouble.
Kohli’s record at the No.3 spot isn’t a great one. The star batter has played 6 matches at the spot and has scored just 97 runs at an average of 16.16. This was the first time he had been dismissed for a duck while batting at No.3.
This was also Kohli’s first duck in Tests in 32 innings and incidentally, it was also against New Zealand during the last tour of the Blackcaps to India in 2021.
