New Zealand vs India: Kohli's average lowest in five years
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli had a rather indifferent ODI series against New Zealand. The ongoing tour saw Kohli amass just 75 runs from three matches. Notably, an average of 25.00 is what Kohli managed. This is his worst series average in the last five years. Here we analyze Kohli's tryst with poor series average in ODIs.
New Zealand series a rare failure for Kohli
Kohli has been dominating ODI cricket over the last five years and his numbers are superb. The 31-year-old has always managed to stay ahead in the 50-over format. He has bossed the show completely. However, this time around, it was a rare Kohli failure. He got scores of 51, 15 and 9 against the Kiwis. The Indian captain couldn't quite get a hold.
Kohli's last poor series show was against Bangladesh
This is Kohli's ninth-worst series in terms of ODI batting average. Prior to this, Kohli had averaged 16.33 against Bangladesh in June 2015. From there on, he had never accounted for low averages across series. Kohli's worst series was against Pakistan back in 2012. He averaged just 4.33. Kohli's tryst with poor series show came mostly during an early stage of his career.
Failures of opening batsmen also had an impact on Kohli
India missed their regular openers in the form of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to injuries. The new opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw failed to impress. Besides a 50-run stand in the first ODI, the two gave India poor starts. Kohli, whose success depends also on openers' performances, was exposed early on. The second and third ODI was a prime example.
Kohli will hope to do well in Tests
Kohli will now hope to deliver the goods with the bat in the upcoming Test series against Kane Williamson's New Zealand. It will be a test for the run-machine, who has so far seen his side boss the ICC World Test Championship.
