Duffy's honest assessment of Kohli, believes there's no weakness to exploit

Virat Kohli's batting left New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy searching for answers after the former India captain produced a commanding 74 in the first ODI at Eden Park on Wednesday. Having shared the dressing room with Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru during their IPL 2026 title-winning campaign, Duffy has also had a close-up view of the batter's abilities in the nets. His verdict was straightforward: there is very little to exploit in Kohli's game.

Kohli struck 13 boundaries and a six in his 51-ball innings, taking India to a five-wicket victory in a rain-shortened contest. Chasing a revised target of 143, India got home with 56 balls to spare, with the 37-year-old setting the tone after Rohit Sharma fell for a duck.

Duffy, who has faced Kohli regularly in the RCB nets, admitted that watching the Indian batter dismantle the bowling attack was hardly a new experience.

"Yeah, it was a bit annoying, wasn't it?" Duffy joked during the post-match press conference.

"Small targets like that, if you get a guy to come out with that kind of intent to knock it off, it can break the chase pretty easily. And he's a pretty good guy to do it, quite impressive, wasn't he?"

The New Zealand quick was particularly impressed by how comfortably Kohli dealt with the bounce on offer at Eden Park. Rather than allowing the short-pitched deliveries to trouble him, Kohli used them to his advantage, combining his pull and hook shots with his ability to hit straight down the ground.

"He didn't struggle with the bounce. He got inside those hook shots, pull shots, and then he could whack you down the ground. No surprise, he's a good player. He's done it for a lot of years, and he did that to me in the nets a lot in Bangalore," Duffy said.NO WEAKNESS TO EXPLOIT

The 32-year-old did wonder whether Kohli would have approached the innings differently had India been batting first and setting a target rather than chasing one. However, Duffy was reluctant to reveal too much about what he had learnt from their time together at RCB.

"If they're batting first or there's a bigger score on the board, it would be interesting to see if he plays like that. I'm not sure, I don't know if he will," he said.

"I won't give away all their scouting tips. I did get some intel at the nets in Bangalore, but there's not many holes in his game, to be fair."

Duffy added that Kohli's ability to use the pace of the ball, particularly on smaller grounds, makes him difficult to contain.

"Small grounds like that, he uses the pace really well, and then he can hit you over your head as well. So, there's not many holes in that man's game," he added.KIWI PACERS STRUGGLE

Duffy also acknowledged that New Zealand's bowlers had little room for error after their batting unit was dismissed for 185. India's pace attack, led by Arshdeep Singh (4/70) and Gurnoor Brar (3/44), made excellent use of the bounce to trouble the hosts.

"180 at Eden Park is never going to be enough. Obviously, I think they bowled really well. They've got some big boys in that bowling team and they use the bounce of the surface really well," Duffy said.

New Zealand did manage to pick up five wickets in India's chase, reducing the visitors to 136/5, but the damage had already been done by Kohli and Shubman Gill, who added 113 for the second wicket.

Duffy conceded that the late wickets came too late to change the outcome, but insisted New Zealand would not back down in the remaining matches.

"There's still things to gain out there. We showed our intent for the series. We're not going to back down, we're going to come hard to these guys and show what we've got," he said.

The defeat also brought the conditions into focus, with Duffy admitting that batting second had its advantages after rain added moisture to the surface. He felt the ball skidded on more easily under the lights, making it harder for New Zealand's bowlers to replicate the bounce they had extracted earlier.

New Zealand will now look to adjust their approach for the remaining games, but Duffy's assessment of Kohli offered a reminder of the challenge awaiting them.

Even with the benefit of having bowled to him in the RCB nets, the Kiwi pacer believes finding a weakness in the Indian star's game is no easy task.- Ends