'Have said this before will say it again' - Sanjay Manjrekar points out technical flaw in Virat Kohli's batting

Virat Kohli joined Tim Southee as the active cricketers with most ducks (38) in international cricket after the talismanic batter failed to open his account on Day 2 of the first Test between India and New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday, October 17. After the former India captain was dismissed for a nine-ball duck, Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out a technical error in his batting.

Kohli came out to bat at No. 3 in the absence of Shubman Gill, who missed the Test due to neck stiffness. In overcast conditions, the Kiwi seamers made life difficult for the Indian batters as the ball swung around prodigiously. William O'Rourke got the better of Kohli with a delivery that seemed back into the right-handed batter after pitching just short of length on off-stump. The bowler's height yielded him additional bounce and the Delhi batter failed to account for it. He tried to defend off his toes but the ball ricocheted off his top glove before flying towards Glenn Phillips at leg gully, who took a fine catch diving forward.

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Manjrekar noted that Kohli tends to get onto the front foot on almost every delivery. The former India cricketer felt that the 35-year-old could have played the delivery comfortably off the back foot.

"Have said this before will say it again. Virat has compounded his problems by wanting to be on the front foot to every ball. No matter the length. Today’s dismissal ball could have been comfortably tackled off the back foot," Manjrekar wrote on his official 'X' (formerly Twitter) handle.

New Zealand reach 82/1 at Tea, lead by 36 runs

The BlackCaps bowled India out for 46 in the second session after Matt Henry starred with figures of 5/15 in 13.2 overs. William O'Rourke accounted for four wickets, while Tim Southee dismissed Rohit Sharma to give New Zealand the initial breakthrough. For India, only Rishabh Pant (20) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) managed to get to double digits.

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New Zealand openers came out to bat with contrasting approaches as Devon Conway took the attack to the Indian bowlers, while captain Tom Latham played the waiting game. They added 67 runs in 17 overs before Latham was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. At Tea on Day 2, the Kiwis reached 82/1, having taken a lead of 36 runs already.