Ravi Shastri's bold 'duck party' jibe at Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan: 'A rare occurrence...'

Just days after head coach Gautam Gambhir criticized India's "batsman-obsessed attitude", the team suffered a major setback as they were bowled out for a dismal 46 runs in the opening match of the three-game series against New Zealand. The match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru saw the hosts struggle against the New Zealand bowlers who took advantage of the overcast conditions on Day 2 to wreak havoc. This was one of India's lowest-ever scores in Test cricket, marking a disappointing start to the series. The performance also reinforced the need for a more balanced approach in the team's cricketing strategy, as highlighted by Gambhir.

As many as five batters - Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin - were dismissed for a duck on Thursday. The only other time five India batters were dismissed for a duck against New Zealand was in the Mohali Test in 1999. India also escaped matching their lowest-ever mark of most number of ducks (6) in an innings, which was recorded against England in 2014 and South Africa in 2024. Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) and Rishabh Pant (20) were the only two batters with double-digit scores.

As New Zealand began their first innings in Bengaluru, former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who was on the commentary panel, was shown a visual of the Indian scorecard. He admitted that he was shocked to witness five dismissals for a duck and rather took a cheeky dig at the Indian team, saying: “When you see that scorecard, you think there will be a duck party happening there. Five ducks!”

When the cameraman next showed the visual of Kohli, Sarfaraz and Rahul standing in the slips during New Zealand's innings, the former India all-rounder added: "It's unheard of in India - lowest score, the team has been bowled out for 46. All three standing in slips, all out for ducks."

India did make a surprising move on Thursday after opting to bat first and picking three spinners and just two fast bowlers under the overcast Bengaluru sky, and with Chinnaswamy having witnessed relentless rain over the previous 48 hours or more.

Rohit later admitted his mistake in misjudging the pitch after India were folded for just 46 runs.

"You see and you try and make the judgement. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don't, and I was on the other side of it this time around," Rohit said. I'm hurting a little bit because I made that call. But see, for us as a team, I think these are the challenges.

"So, what if we put ourselves under pressure a little bit? We want to play well. We want to challenge ourselves. This time around, it didn't come off, the challenges that were thrown at us. We didn't respond well, and we found ourselves in a situation where we got bowled out for 46 runs. As a captain, it definitely hurts to see that number, but in 365 days you'll make two or three bad calls. That's okay."