New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy was impressed by Virat Kohli’s humility and work ethic during their stint together at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, saying the Indian batting great remained down-to-earth despite being a “religious figure” back home, and is relishing the prospect of facing him in the upcoming ODI series.
Duffy shared the dressing room with Kohli during RCB’s title-winning campaign in the IPL earlier this year.
“I got to see him yesterday. He was in the gym, obviously, so running into him there was cool, but he was awesome to me,” Duffy was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
Duffy said the former India captain went out of his way to make overseas players feel welcome despite his superstar status in the country. “For such a religious figure, I guess you almost say, in India - he’s obviously a megastar over there - for him to be so down-to-earth and sort of welcome all us overseas guys in RCB was pretty cool, so very appreciative for him for that. “It’ll be awesome to play against him now that I’ve sort of shared a changing room with him as well,” he added. India and New Zealand are set to face off in a five-match ODI series, beginning in Auckland on November 4.
Duffy, who bowled frequently to Kohli during RCB’s net sessions, said the experience of facing the Indian star in practice had given both players an insight into each other’s game.
“He’s got a great work ethic. I bowled a lot to him in the nets because he was always the first batter and I was always the first bowler. We actually spent a lot of time facing each other in the nets, so that’s quite cool. But also from there, he’s seen a lot of me now too, so he’ll have good preparation.”
After conceding plenty of runs in the second and third T20Is against India, Duffy bounced back with four wickets in the fourth match, which New Zealand won by 87 runs. A member of New Zealand’s ODI squad, the pacer will have to quickly switch his focus to the 50-over format, which, he said, offers a different challenge.
“Personally, I quite like ODI cricket. What I like about it is that up top, you get a little bit of the hard lengths with the swinging ball and stuff like that. Then you get a little bit of the hit and giggle near the end.”
With the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa a year away, Duffy said the upcoming series would be important in shaping New Zealand’s preparations for the marquee tournament.
“We’ve also got World Cup about this time next year in South Africa,” he added.