Virat Kohli’s poor run of form continued in ODIs, as he was out for his seventh successive score of below 20 after falling to Ebadot Hossain in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur.
Kohli was opening the innings for the first time since 2014 after skipper Rohit Sharma was rushed to the hospital for X-rays following a thumb injury. He started off with a four, smashing Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a wristy boundary on the first ball of the innings.
However, he was unable to stick around, falling five balls later to continue his poor run in the format. The fifth ball of the second over, by Ebadot, was short, outside off stump. Kohli tried to pull but only managed a thin outside edge that went and shattered the stumps. Ebadot, who had picked up four wickets in the first game, was ecstatic at the big scalp, running around the stadium before offering his trademark a salute to the departing batter.
Kohli has not been in the best of forms in ODIs of late, averaging 18.90 this year with two fifties from 10 innings. He has scored at 74 for his 189 runs, his lowest strike rate since 2008, his debut year. His average, on the other hand, is his worst in a year: the previous worst of 31.80 also came in 2008.
Kohli last scored an ODI hundred in August 2019, and has eight scores of less than 20 this year, including five single-digit knocks. Since his last fifty, against South Africa at the start of the year, he has managed 8, 18, 0, 16, 17, 9 and 5.
Ebadot, on the other hand, continued his excellent start in international cricket. Though he has played 17 Test matches, he made his white-ball debut this year, playing a total of seven games across T20Is and ODIs. He has picked up at least a wicket in all of his white-ball innings thus far, including 2-38 and 4-47 in two 50-over games prior to the match against India on Wednesday. He started his third ODI on a high as well, picking up the big scalp of Kohli in the first over that he bowled to give Bangladesh the advantage.
Bangladesh recovered from 67-6 to set India a target of 272 after a fighting hundred by Miraz to stay alive in the series. They had won the first game by one wicket on Sunday to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.