Jacob Duffy praises Virat Kohli’s humility ahead of India-New Zealand ODI series

Hamilton: New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy was full of praise for India veteran Virat Kohli as he looks ahead to face his Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate during the upcoming ODI series between New Zealand and India, which gets underway on November 4.

Duffy shared the dressing room with Kohli during the IPL 2026 and has also bowled to him in the nets. The New Zealand seamer was struck by how “down to earth” Kohli is despite being a superstar in India and approaching a “religious status” in his nation.

“I got to see him (Kohli) yesterday. He was in the gym, obviously, so running into him there was cool, but he was awesome to me,” Duffy said on Sunday during a media interaction.

“Obviously, 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 of us overseas guys in RCB was pretty cool, so very appreciative of 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.

He further stated that he has had lots of discussions with Kohli around the tactics on the Indian grounds when he shared the RCB dressing room with him. “He’s got a great work ethic,” Duffy said. “Obviously, 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.

“I guess we talk a lot about fine details. We talk about certain wickets back in India. Certain wickets are quite different, so he talked a lot about the different lines and lengths on those kinds of wickets and how he adjusts and how he thinks I could be adjusting on those ones too. So little insights like that were quite important from him.”

The speedster further added that he likes ODI cricket and called the five-match ODI series against India a crucial series to prepare for the 2027 World Cup.

“Personally, I quite like ODI cricket,” Duffy said. “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. We’ve also got the World Cup about this time next year in South Africa. That’s pretty high on the priority list, I think.

“Growing up (watching the) 2015 World Cup, 2019 World Cup, those, to me, are the pinnacles of our game. Those are the major events that I grew up watching and strived for and wanted to be there for those.

“Obviously, a year out from that, I think these [games] play a pretty important role in that. I guess we’re trying to build and push for a case to make that squad.”