Virat Kohli Suffers this Embarrassment After Three Years in Second ODI vs South Africa in Paarl

Virat Kohli’s torrid time continues. After relinquishing the Test captaincy in the aftermath of the series loss vs South Africa, Kohli’s ‘struggles’ in ODIs have continued. After scoring a determined 51 in the first ODI in Paarl, Kohli suffered an embarrassing moment in the second ODI in Boland Park. Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul started aggressively as they scored at close to six runs an over. At 11.3 overs, India had raced 63/0. But, Shikhar Dhawan fell for 29. In came Virat Kohli and Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner came to bowl.

The first ball from Maharaj bounced a bit extra and Kohli pressed forward to defend. Kohli tried to flick the second ball but it hit his thigh pad. But, on the third ball, disaster struck. Maharaj floated a flighted delivery outside off, Kohli looked to drive Maharaj but the ball stopped on him and he ended up hitting it straight to Temba Bavuma at cover.

Virat Kohli And His Embarrassment Against South Africa

This was the first time in three years that Virat Kohli had been dismissed for a duck in ODIs. He was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the ODI against West Indies in Vizag in November 2019. This was his second duck against South Africa and both have come in the country. Kohli’s first duck was in 2013 in the ODI in Durban. With his latest dismissal, Kohli’s average has slipped to below 59.

Read – Virat Kohli Achieves THIS record in Paarl ODI

India won the toss and chose to bat against South Africa in the 2nd ODI at Boland Park, Paarl on Friday. This is a must-win game for India after losing the first game at the same venue. The match is been played on the same pitch. With the wicket expected to get slower, batting first will be vital for India to get back into the contest. “In the middle overs, we couldn’t get the partnerships going and that’s the learning from the last game. Hopefully, we can go out there today and show better performance. The batters themselves realized that’s where it went wrong, we will learn from it and we have spoken about it,” Rahul said.

Changes in the Indian cricket team

The Indian cricket team made no changes to the first match which they lost in Paarl. One hopes that Venkatesh Iyer, who did not bowl a single over and was dismissed for 2, gets a chance. There was one change in the South Africa team with Marco Jansen being rested. Temba Bavuma stating the importance of early wickets. “I think there will be an opportunity in the first hour with the ball swinging and nipping a bit, if we can take a couple of wickets and put them under pressure,” Bavuma said.

India lost the first ODI in Paarl by 31 runs. Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma both smashed centuries and shared a partnership of 204, which was a record for the Proteas against India. While van der Dussen and Bavuma scored centuries, India was in a similar position with Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scoring fifties. But, Dhawan fell for 79 and Kohli managed 51. In the process, Virat Kohli notched up his 63^rd fifty but went past 5000 runs in overseas ODIs.