Sanju Samson Dismissed for a Duck Again as Marco Jansen Claims His Wicket in Third T20I

In the third T20I of India’s four-match series against South Africa, played at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday, Sanju Samson fell for a duck yet again. For the second consecutive match, it was South African pacer Marco Jansen who managed to send Samson back to the pavilion without a score.

Samson’s dismissal came as Jansen angled a back-of-a-length delivery across him, around the off-stump. Samson, attempting to get on top of the bounce, misjudged the ball’s pace and low trajectory, which zipped under his bat to hit the off stump. This marks Samson’s second duck in a row following his impressive back-to-back centuries earlier in the series, making Jansen his nemesis in consecutive outings.

This recent duck brings Samson’s tally to six T20I innings without a score, further highlighting the unpredictability of T20 cricket. The record for the most ducks by an Indian player in T20 internationals, however, still belongs to former India T20I captain Rohit Sharma. Sharma, who has played 159 matches over his 17-year career, holds the record with 12 ducks, despite his impressive status as T20I’s highest run-scorer and most-capped player.

Meanwhile, the recently retired Virat Kohli ranks second among Indian players with seven ducks in his 125-match T20I career. Kohli concluded his T20I journey on a high, retiring after India’s victory in the T20 World Cup 2024 final.

On the global stage, the record for most ducks in T20 internationals belongs to four players: Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka), Soumya Sarkar (Bangladesh), Paul Stirling (Ireland), and Kevin Irakoze (Rwanda), each having recorded 13 ducks in T20Is, a world record in this format.