Top 5 Bowlers Who Have Dismissed Virat Kohli Most Times In International Cricket

Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli holds various records to his name. The run-machine is at the top of ICC rankings in both Test and ODI formats, while he is ninth when it comes to T20I rankings. His talent is there for all to see, but sometimes, even the best in business suffer from an indifferent form.

In the ongoing tour of New Zealand, Kohli has struggled to make an impact. India managed to win the T20I series despite the 31-year-old mixed bag of performances. In the ODIs though, the story has been very different.

Kohli scored 51 runs in the first ODI of the three-match series, but couldn’t inspire his team to victory. On Saturday, in the second ODI, the right-handed batsman could only manage 15 runs when he was dismissed by Kiwis pacer Tim Southee.

It was the record ninth time, that Southee claimed the Indian skipper’s wicket in international cricket, across all formats.

With that said, today, we will take a look at the list of top five bowlers who have taken Virat Kohli’s wicket on the most number of occasions:

5) Adam Zampa:

The Australian bowler is tied with Rampaul as he too, has taken Kohli’s wicket seven times in international cricket. Although Zampa has played 21 matches against Kohli and required four more games than Rampaul to achieve the feat.

In his career, the 27-year-old promising bowler has played 51 ODI games for his country. In that period, he has 70 wickets at an average of 35.86.

Moreover, Zampa has played 27 T20 matches for Australia bagging 28 wickets at an average of 20.43.

*Note: Apart from Zampa and Rampaul, Morne Morkel and Nathan Lyon too have dismissed Kohli seven times in international cricket, but they required more games to do so.

Morkel achieved the feat in 29 matches, while Lyon did it in 25 games.

4) Ravi Rampaul:

The West Indies bowler Ravi Rampaul has undone Kohli on seven occasions in the 17 matches that they played against each other. Interestingly, six of those dismissals from the bowler have come in ODIs.

Together, Southee and Rampaul have taken Kohli’s wicket six times each in ODI matches. The 35-year-old has played 18 Test matches for his country collecting 49 wickets at the average of 34.8.

In ODIs, he has represented the West Indies in 92 matches and has scalped 117 wickets at an average of 29.35.

3) James Anderson:

Former England great James Anderson also features on the illustrious list and is tied with his compatriot Swann for inflicting second-most dismissals on Kohli in international cricket.

The 37-year-old played 29 matches against the Indian skipper and these two had a mini-battle of their own whenever they faced off.

Anderson was an incredibly gifted bowler, who played 151 Test matches for his country and bagged 584 wickets at the average of 26.83.

In ODI cricket, he can boast of 194 caps, in which he snared 269 wickets, at an average of 29.22.

2) Graeme Swann:

Before Southee, Graeme Swann held the title of dismissing Kohli on the most number of occasions jointly with England pacer James Anderson, who each got the better of the 31-year-old eight times in international cricket, across formats.

The thing that’s worth noting here, is that Swann played just 16 matches against Kohli. That is an incredible dismissal rate of 0.5 per cent given how dangerous batsman the Indian skipper is.

Swann was a late bloomer and he scalped 255 wickets at an average of 29.97 in 60 Test matches.

His record in ODI cricket is equally as impressive, 104 wickets, at an average of 27.77 in 79 ODI caps. He announced his retirement from all formats of the game in 2013.

1) Tim Southee:

The New Zealand pacer has sent Kohli back to the dugout a record nine times in international cricket, across all formats. The dynamic duo has faced each other on 28 occasions, in which Southee had the last laugh nine times.

His latest dismissal of Kohli came on Saturday, which helped New Zealand defeat India in the second ODI and claim the three-match series at home.

In his career, Southee has played 71 Test matches for the Black Caps so far, amassing 270 wickets at an average of 29.83. In ODIs, he has taken part in 142 matches for New Zealand and has 190 wickets to his name, at an average of 34.2.

(All stats updated till 9th February, 2020)