Virat Kohli made his first ever World Cup duck, against England in Lucknow today (October 29). The story of what transpired before his dismissal is that of genius planning and execution by the England bowlers and fielders.
In the third over of India’s innings, David Willey bowled and scored 18 runs. Rohit Sharma, in his typically easy-going avatar, hit two sixes in the over and one four in the over to bat first for the first time in the tournament. Despite this, he didn’t waver in his assists.
Chris Woakes played a full ball in the last of the four overs to dismiss Shubman Gill. What followed in his next three overs was a work of art for England his team on the field.
Rohit hit a single off the second ball of the fifth over, bringing Kohli into the attack for the first time in the match. Willie, who has been Kohli’s partner in the IPL for the past two seasons, was spot on with his line and length. The first ball to Kohli hit the stumps and he tried to get it back to himself. There wasn’t much support in the air, so Willie quickly adapted.
Almost every ball he bowled to Kohli was long enough over the fourth stump channel and slanted away from Kohli. On the second ball, Kohli went forward as usual, but there was a pinch on the Lucknow surface and the ball beat his piercing bat. He then fielded his last two balls of that over.
Woakes then bowled the maiden ball to Rohit. In the power play, Rohit bowls against a maiden who tries to throw the ball from right in front of him, as if he hates the ball from the bottom of his heart and doesn’t want it lurking near him. To do this, you must grasp the ball firmly and bring it to yourself. . Wakes did both.
Outside swings, inside seam movements, wide releases, Woakes brought out a bag of tricks and even overwhelmed Rohit with tricks that didn’t reach the slips.
Suddenly, India went from 26-0 in 3.5 overs to 27-1 in 6 overs. He only scored one point on his last 13 pitches. Before this match, India had scored 6.28 in the first 10 overs of the World Cup, second only to Australia. This was uncharted territory for them.
And it showed when Kohli stepped out to solve the problem on the first ball of the seventh over, but Willie remained unfazed. When Kohli’s strike hit the cover fielder, he shortened his length slightly and maintained the same line. The next ball was too good for Kohli and he couldn’t try anything. Blocked.
The first six balls that Kohli faced failed to yield any runs. India’s best 15 teams had scored one goal. When Kohli timed his cover drive perfectly on the next ball, especially on the rise, both he and India must have sensed that the shackles were about to break and Kohli would be on the move.
That was until Dawid Malan jumped to the left at short cover and stopped it with one hand. Kohli played the next ball and once again showed that he did not concede any runs.
And Nasser Hussain pointed out that the stop made by the fielder a ball or two prior to the dismissal (the cover drive I think) was so crucial. It forced Virat Kohli to play this shot and led to his downfall today. Good cricket. https://t.co/GPloWiira1
– ジェイ (@bhavsarJ2_0) 29. October 2023
Kohli himself is clearly a batsman who sticks to his technique no matter the format or situation. But despite the team’s template being to play hard from the beginning, they pitched eight balls without conceding a single run in the powerplay, especially against the very team that brought about this revolution in ODI play. It was too much for Kohli to do.
Kohli could not find any gap in the ground so he tried to break out and take to the air across the halfway line. Willie deftly pulled his length back but Kohli called it. He had success with Hoyck, but could only connect with Ben Stokes in the middle.
England’s brilliant planning and execution forced Kohli into his longest duck in an ODI and his first in a white-ball World Cup.
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