England reminded India of their first game of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup against Australia triggering a top-order collapse for the Men in Blue in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Match No. 29 in Lucknow on Sunday, October 29. India batted first for the first time in the tournament and the repercussions of the same were on display as the batters seemed out of place having to set a total instead of chasing one as they lost three wickets for 42 runs including Virat Kohli, who recorded his first-ever duck in World Cups.
Kohli has played 32 innings in ODI World Cup since 2011 and 25 innings in the T20 World Cup since 2012 and this was the first instance when he got out without troubling the scores. Kohli has gotten out in single digits in the World Cup eight times, out of which six are in the ODI format, however, this was his first-ever duck.
Kohli's previous lowest score in the World Cup was 1, which he recorded on three occasions - against South Africa in the 2011 World Cup in Nagpur, against Australia in the 2015 World Cup semifinal in Sydney and in the 2019 World Cup semifinal against New Zealand in Manchester. On all three occasions, India lost the game.
This was Kohli's first duck in ODIs in 2023 and he now has 34 ducks to his name in international cricket, which is now equal to Sachin Tendulkar's and is the most for Indian batters batting in the Top 7.
Kohli was the second batter to depart as he was rushed by David Willey as he mistimed a lofted shot straight into the hands of the mid-off fielder. Chris Woakes had already cleaned up Shubman Gill before he came back after a few overs to get rid of Shreyas Iyer.
Skipper Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul are in the middle now and will aim to get India to safer shores.
