Virat Kohli’s IPL ducks tale: Why multiple dismissals for nought have often hurt him

RCB superstar Virat Kohli was left stunned on Thursday night after Lucknow Super Giants pacer Prince Yadav cleaned him up for a two-ball duck at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. It was Kohli’s first duck in the IPL in 1110 days and only the 11th duck of his legendary T20 career in the tournament.The delivery itself quickly became one of the biggest talking points of IPL 2026. Prince bowled a sharp 140.4 kmph ball that jagged back viciously through Kohli’s defence before crashing into the off-stump. Kohli stood frozen in disbelief as the young pacer erupted in celebration.

Some fans and experts even labelled it the “ball of the tournament”.For a batter who has dominated the IPL for nearly two decades and scored more than 9000 runs, dismissing Kohli for a duck remains one of the rarest feats in franchise cricket.

Kohli’s rare ducks in IPL history

The last time Kohli was dismissed for nought in the IPL came in April 2023, when Rajasthan Royals pacer Trent Boult trapped him lbw off the very first ball.Since making his IPL debut in 2008, Kohli has played 277 matches and scored 9040 runs, including eight centuries and 66 fifties, at an average of 39.82 and a strike rate of 133.92.Out of his 269 IPL innings, Kohli has been dismissed for a duck only 11 times — just 4.09 per cent of his innings.

What makes the record even more remarkable is the distribution of those ducks across his career. Six of the 11 ducks came in just two difficult seasons — 2014 and 2022 — when Kohli was dismissed for nought three times each.That leaves only five ducks spread across the remaining 17 IPL seasons.Those isolated dismissals came against Mumbai Indians in 2008, Gujarat Lions in 2016, Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017, Rajasthan Royals in 2023, and now Lucknow Super Giants in 2026.Virat Kohli's IPL ducks:

Multiple ducks and their impact on Kohli’s seasonsInterestingly, the seasons in which Kohli suffered multiple ducks also coincided with noticeable dips in his overall numbers.In 2014, Kohli registered ducks against Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. He finished the season with only 359 runs in 14 innings at an average of 27.61 and a strike rate of 122.10, scoring just two fifties.Then came the difficult 2022 season.Kohli endured one of the toughest phases of his IPL career that year, recording three ducks again — against LSG and twice against SRH.

His struggles reflected heavily in his final numbers as he managed only 341 runs in 16 innings at an average of 22.73 and a strike rate of 115.98.It remains one of Kohli’s poorest IPL seasons statistically.Kohli's ducks while chasingKohli’s latest duck also carried another surprising statistic.Widely regarded as one of the greatest chasers in cricket history, the RCB icon registered only his sixth IPL duck while batting second. The number appears slightly inflated because all three of his ducks in the 2014 season came during run chases. Excluding that unusual phase, Kohli has rarely failed while batting second. More remarkably, this was his first duck in a chase since April 2017 — ending a gap of more than nine years.Despite the setback, Kohli’s IPL 2026 campaign remains on track. He has already scored 379 runs in 10 matches and looks well set for another 600-plus run season after crossing that mark in each of the last three editions.Virat Kohli's IPL ducks while chasing: