Some fans and experts even named it the “ball of the tournament”.For a batsman who dominated the IPL for almost two decades and scored over 9000 runs, getting Kohli out for a duck is one of the rarest achievements in franchise cricket.

The last time Kohli was out for zero in the IPL was in April 2023, when Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Trent Boult had him out LBW on 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 out on duck only 11 times – just 4.09 per cent of his innings.What makes this record even more remarkable is the distribution of those ducks throughout his career. Six of the 11 ducks came in the only two tough seasons – 2014 and 2022 – when Kohli was out for ducks three times each.This leaves only five ducks in the remaining 17 IPL seasons.There were separate outings 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 failure in IPL:

Multiple duck outs and their impact on Kohli’s seasonInterestingly, during the seasons in which Kohli was out for a duck multiple times, his total numbers also declined significantly.In 2014, Kohli finished with a duck 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, and scored only two fifties.Then came the difficult 2022 season.Kohli endured one of the toughest phases of his IPL career that year, registering three ducks again – against LSG and twice against SRH. His struggles were heavily reflected in his final figures as he could only score 341 runs in 16 innings at an average of 22.73 and a strike rate of 115.98.This is statistically one of Kohli’s worst IPL seasons.Kohli ducks while chasing the targetAnother surprising figure has also emerged in Kohli’s latest innings.Widely considered one of the greatest chasers in cricket history, the RCB icon registered only his sixth IPL duck while batting second. This number appears to be slightly inflated as all three of his ducks in the 2014 season came during run chases. Barring that unusual phase, Kohli has rarely failed while batting at number two. More notably, it was his first duck while chasing a target since April 2017 – ending a gap of more than nine years.Despite the setback, Kohli’s IPL 2026 campaign is on track. He has already scored 379 runs in 10 matches and looks all set to score 600-plus runs in the next one after crossing that figure in each of the last three editions.Virat Kohli got out for zero while chasing the target in IPL: