Jacob Duffy Reveals What Surprised Him Most About Virat Kohli At Royal Challengers Bengaluru

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 added that he is looking forward to facing him in the upcoming ODI series. Duffy shared the dressing room with Kohli during RCB's title-winning IPL campaign 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 Cricbuzz.

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 could almost say, in India - he's obviously a megastar over there - for him to be so down-to-earth and welcome all of us overseas guys at RCB was pretty cool, so I'm very appreciative of that.

"It'll be awesome to play against him now that I've shared a dressing 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 regularly to Kohli during RCB's net sessions, said the experience had given both players a good understanding of 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 spent a lot of time facing each other in the nets, so that's quite cool.

"But from there, he's seen a lot of me too, so he'll be well prepared," he said.

After conceding plenty of runs in the second and third T20Is against India, Duffy bounced back strongly with a four-wicket haul in the fourth match, which New Zealand won by 87 runs.

A member of New Zealand's ODI squad, the pacer said he enjoys the different challenges presented by 50-over cricket.

"Personally, I quite like ODI cricket. What I enjoy is that with the new ball you get the chance to hit hard lengths and exploit any swing on offer. Then, later in the innings, you get a completely different challenge at the death."

With the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia a year away, Duffy said the upcoming series would play an important role in New Zealand's preparations.

"We've also got the World Cup around this time next year in South Africa. That's pretty high on the priority list, I think.

"Growing up watching the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, those were the pinnacle of the game for me. Those are the major events I dreamed of playing in.

"Being a year out, these matches play a very important role. We're all trying to build our case and push for a place in that World Cup squad," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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