Star India batter Virat Kohli was dismissed for a duck for the first time in an ODI World Cup match during his team’s game against England at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.
Kohli came to bat early in the innings after Chris Woakes dismissed Shubman Gill in the fourth over. Even Virat wasn’t able to bat freely and couldn’t open his account on the first eight balls of his innings.
The pressure was building on and Kohli went for a big shot but he couldn’t time the ball and ended up giving a catch to Ben Stokes at mid-off for a nine-ball duck.
This was also his 16th duck in ODIs and just the third against England in 50-over cricket. In 32 innings before the England match, Kohli had scored 1384 runs at an average of 53.23 and avoided getting out on a duck.
Visibly and understandably, the former India skipper was angry with himself with the manner he got out. After returning to the dressing room, the camera panned to Virat, who was angry and vented his frustration on the dressing room sofa, punching it a couple of times.
Kohli’s irate response to his dismissal has set social media abuzz and the video of him punching the sofa went viral.
Earlier, England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl first against. Both teams are unchanged for the clash and this is the first time India batting first in this ongoing World Cup.
Playing XIs:
India: 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: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood