India captain Virat Kohli failed with the bat for the second straight match as his tour of Ireland and England began on a poor note.
Kohli got out for naught in the first T20 against Ireland in the death overs after openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma had added 160.
The Indians made four changes to the team for the second match on Friday, with Kohli batting with KL Rahul at the top of the order. However, that move did not work out as Kohli looked tentative during his short stay at the crease which ended at nine from eight balls.
Kohli failed to get any timing on three successive balls from pacer Boyd Rankin in the second over, even getting a leading edge.
Then in the third over bowled by Peter Chase, Kohli looked to force the issue and tried to pull the pacer only to get a top edge to square leg, where George Dockrell took a fine catch.
Kohli wanted to get some runs under his belt in English conditions before the tour of England but that hasn’t happened after his neck injury ended a proposed county stint. His last substantial innings in a competitive match was 48 not out for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL on May 14.
Also, his T20I form has taken a bit of a hit. In his last nine T20I matches, Kohli has scored just one fifty. He has failed to reach double figures in his last three T20I innings.
