The struggles of Virat Kohli and the Indian cricket team have continued ahead of their blockbuster clash with Australia this summer, suffering more embarrassment against New Zealand. The Kiwis have already won the three-Test series and hold a 2-0 lead, and reduced India to 4-86 in response to 235 in the third match on Friday.

Kohli suffered a horror moment when he was runout for just four after taking a disastrous run. The former captain hit the ball straight to Matt Henry at mid-on and was out by a metre when the Black Caps bowler threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

India were cruising at 1-78 in response to New Zealand’s first innings total of 235. But disaster struck with just 15 minutes remaining before stumps.

The hosts trailed New Zealand by 149 runs at the close of a fast-paced day one at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, where the pitch offered early turn to the spinners. Ajaz Patel struck twice in two balls in a chaotic end to the day, bowling Yashasvi Jaiswal for 30 and trapping nightwatchman Mohammed Siraj lbw on the next delivery. Siraj also burned a review in the process.

But New Zealand’s biggest celebration came in the next over when Kohli ran himself out in calamitous fashion. It continued a staggering fall from grace for the superstar batter, who is averaging just 33 in Test matches since 2021. The 35-year-old’s career average has dipped to 48.07 – the lowest it’s been since 2016.

Ravi Jadeja told reporters after stumps that “everything happened in 10 minutes”, and the team “did not get time to react”. He added: “We cannot blame any individual. Everyone makes some small mistake.”

Aussies presented golden opportunity to break India drought

India’s latest struggles will have Pat Cummins and Australia licking their lips ahead of a blockbuster five-Test showdown this summer. New Zealand have already claimed their first Test series win in India ever, having failed to win any of their previous 12 series in the country going back to 1955.

“I think any time a team’s under pressure, it’s not a bad thing if you’re playing against them,” Cummins said last week. “But they’ve been out here before and performed well. Our job is to try and keep them quiet, see how we go.”

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Rohit Sharma’s team have always performed well in Australia, and Cummins – who has played 62 Tests – has never played in a winning series against them. “It’s kind of the one big thing that I want to tick off,” Cummins said.

“Particularly winning at home. Most Australians, me included, expect us to do well whenever we play at home. We’ve lost the (last) two series against them (in Australia), so this is a big one. We feel like our team’s in a really good place, so we’ve got no reason why we shouldn’t perform really well. I just always expect us to do well against whoever we play. But India, particularly, is a big year, big season.”

Of all the teams Australia have played during their past 16 Test series, India are the only opponents they haven’t beaten at least once – either home or away. That includes two series victories for India in Australia – in 2018-19 when Steve Smith and David Warner were suspended, and a famous win in 2020-21 when the Aussies had their full team back together.

with agencies