List of Most Ducks in T20I Cricket: The term “duck” in cricket refers to when a batter is dismissed without scoring a single run in their innings. A golden duck specifically means being dismissed on the very first ball faced without scoring.
![List of Most Ducks in T20I Cricket [2023 update]](https://i0.wp.com/iplt20live.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/List-of-Most-Ducks-in-T20I-Cricket-2023-update-1024x597.png)
There are several types of ducks in cricket based on when the dismissal happens – golden, silver, bronze, diamond, royal, laughing, pair, and king pair. But they all require the batter to be dismissed for zero runs.
Ducks occur more frequently in Twenty20 (T20) cricket compared to other formats given its aggressive nature. Batters look to score quick runs right from the start, increasing chances of getting dismissed early.
Here are the top 5 players with the most ducks in T20I till August 2023:
- Paul Sterling‘s 13 ducks have come at an average of one every 10 innings approximately. His highest score in T20Is is 103, showing he can be a dangerous batter on his day. But Sterling’s tendency to get out cheaply upfront has continued to hurt Ireland.
- Kevin O’Brien was a vital cog in Ireland’s rise as a T20I side from 2008-2015. He struck Ireland’s first T20I century and finished with 7 fifties. But the tall all-rounder often struggled against top-quality pace bowling, leading to his 12 T20I ducks.
- Regis Chakabva‘s struggles in T20Is are indicated by his poor average of 14.51 despite a decent strike rate of 122.44. He has been dismissed for zero in almost one-fourth of his innings (11 out of 49). Chakabva has crossed 50 just once in T20Is.
- Soumya Sarkar is known for his aggressive batting but has failed to find consistency in T20Is for Bangladesh. His 11 ducks are spread across a 72-inning career. Sarkar’s only T20I fifty came way back in 2015.
- Dilshan was renowned for his innovative “Dilscoop” shot over the wicketkeeper’s head. When it came off, he could demolish attacks. But Dilshan was equally susceptible to getting out early on occasions, leading to his 10 T20I ducks.
- Rohit Sharma has been India’s most successful T20I batter by far, with 3,006 runs including 4 hundreds at an average of 32.54. But he has also suffered a failure on 10 occasions in 148 innings. However, Rohit’s ducks account for only 3.5% of his T20I dismissals.
| Position | Player | Team | Matches | Ducks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Stirling | Ireland | 131 | 13 |
| 2 | Kevin O’Brien | Ireland | 110 | 12 |
| 3 | Regis Chakabva | Zimbabwe | 49 | 11 |
| 4 | Soumya Sarkar | Bangladesh | 72 | 11 |
| 5 | Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 80 | 10 |
| 6 | Umar Akmal | Pakistan | 84 | 10 |
| 7 | Dasun Shanaka | Sri Lanka | 88 | 10 |
| 8 | Rohit Sharma | India | 148 | 10 |
| 9 | Kevin Irakoze | Rwanda | 49 | 9 |
| 10 | Luke Wright | England | 51 | 9 |
Types Of Ducks In Cricket
For those still learning the game or if you simply didn’t know, there are 8 different types of ducks that a batsman can be dismissed for in cricket. As a batsman myself, I never wanted to get out for a duck, let alone 8 different varieties! But ducks are a part of the game, so let’s go through the main ones:
- The most common duck is the Golden Duck – when a batsman is dismissed off the very first ball they face in their innings. We’ve seen plenty of these from the Australian cricket team over the years, much to the delight of opposition fans!
- Then there’s the Silver Duck – out on just the second ball of your innings. I don’t think I’ve ever heard commentators use the term Silver Duck, it’s usually just called a “second ball duck”.
- If you get dismissed on the third ball without scoring, you’ve been dismissed for a Bronze Duck. Make it to the fourth ball without scoring though, and your winnings are just labelled as boring!
- One of the unluckiest ducks is the Diamond Duck – when a batsman gets run out, timed out or obstructed the field without having faced a ball. You can even be stumped off a wide ball and walk off for a diamond duck without facing a legal delivery.
- If an opening batsman gets out the first ball of the innings, that’s called a Royal Duck. Alastair Cook kindly did this in the 2013 Ashes when he was bowled by Ryan Harris with an absolute peach of a delivery.
- When a batsman gets out for 0 to end an innings, it’s known as a Laughing Duck. The players at my club, the Nepotists Cricket Club, get laughed at no matter when they get out though, since we take our games very seriously!
- The dreaded Pair is when a batsman gets out for a duck in both innings of the same match. Mark Taylor achieved this unwanted feat in 1998, before bouncing back to score a mammoth 334 in the next match.
- And finally, the worst of them all – the King Pair. This is when a batsman suffers the humiliation of a golden duck in both innings of a Test match. Definitely a label you don’t want next to your name as a batsman!
So there you have it – the 8 types of ducks that a batsman never wants to see on the scorecard after their name. Scoring a zero is never fun, but hopefully knowing the duck terminology makes it a bit more bearable! Let me know if you have any other cricket questions.
