Virat Kohli: 3 instances of the Indian captain's slow start to a home Test series

The Holkar Stadium in Indore is currently hosting the first India-Bangladesh Test and India are currently in a commanding position. At lunch, India were already 38 runs ahead of Bangladesh. However, the Indian innings has not been free of disappointments as captain Virat Kohli got out on a rare duck on the very second ball he faced this morning.

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Kohli: A slow starter in home Test series

Kohli came in to bat this morning on the sixth ball of the 30th over and by the end of the 32nd over, he was already back in the pavilion. A length ball by 26-year-old Abu Jayed got the skipper out leg-before-wicket. As Kohli got out without scoring after only facing two balls, a phenomenon repeated itself as it was yet another home Test series in which Kohli did not start well at all. Let us take a look at some other instances at home where Kohli got off to a slow start.

1) vs South Africa, 2019

In the first match of the Test series, Kohli could only manage a score of 20 in the first innings as he was dismissed by South Africa's debutant spinner Senuram Muthuswamy. However, it took the Indian captain two more innings to script a beautiful comeback and score a career-best 254* to hand India a victory by an innings and 137 runs. Despite a slow start, Kohli ended the series being its third-highest run-getter at 317 runs. 

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2) vs Sri Lanka, 2017

In the first match of the series, Kohli got out on a duck once again in the first innings as he was trapped lbw by Sri Lanka's pacer Suranga Lakmal. As the trend went against South Africa, in the second match, he bettered his effort and got 213 in the first innings, which was enough to hand Sri Lanka a heavy defeat. In the third match, he bettered his previous score and made 243 and 50. Kohli ended the series with 610 runs and was the leading run-scorer of the series.

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3) vs New Zealand, 2016

In the first match of the home Test series against the Kiwis, Kohli could only manage paltry scores of 9 and 18. In the second Test, he made 9 and 45. It was in the third match when Virat came into his element and scored 211 and 17. Virat ended the series as the third-highest run-scorer.

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