5 Players With The Most Number Of Golden Ducks In ODI Cricket

One of the most dreaded sight for any batsman in cricket is seeing a duck against his name on the scorecard. ‘Duck’ in cricket refers to a batsman getting dismissed without troubling the scorers. Remember the gold old days of the 1990s where we used to see a duck waging on our screens every time a batsman made his way back to the pavilion after scoring zero?

Of course, ducks are also classified into two categories in cricket- golden and diamond. While a golden duck refers to the batsman getting dismissed on the very first delivery of his innings, diamond duck means a batsman got dismissed even without facing a delivery. The latter usually happens if a batsman is run-out at the non-striker end or stumped by a wicket-keeper on a wide.

On this note, here’s a look at the players who have registered the most number of golden ducks in ODI cricket:

Moin Khan-11

The feisty lower-order batsman, who was renowned for his counterattacking knocks while batting in the lower-middle order for Pakistan in the 90s, Moin Khan is the only wicket-keeper to feature in this list.

The 1992 World Cup winner, under whose leadership Pakistan won their maiden Asia Cup title (in 2000), Moin Khan registered 11 golden ducks in his 183 innings International career.

Muttiah Muralitharan-11

The vile wizard, someone who could spin the ball miles even on glass, Muttiah Muralitharan was a sight to behold whenever he had the ball in his hand during his celebrated International career.

But the legendary off-spinner was equally entertaining whenever he walked out to bat. Murali was your quintessential No.11, someone who did not believe in beating around the bush. No matter the situation of the game, for Muralitharan- the batsman- the philosophy was simple ‘My way or the highway’. And, more often than not, it turned out to be the latter as is evident from the fact the highest wicket-taker in both Test and ODI cricket boasts of the record for registering the third most golden ducks [11 in 162 innings] in the history of 50-over cricket. He also holds the record for the most number of ducks [59] across all formats of the game.

Javagal Srinath- 11

Javagal Srinath. What is the one thing that comes to your mind when you hear, read, or watch the former Indian fast bowler? Instigator of a whirlwind revolution in Indian fast bowling? Lone spearhead? One of the most underrated fast bowlers of all time? Only Indian seamer to take more than 300 ODI wickets? Well! Such was the brilliance of Javagal Srinath- the fast bowler- that we often tend to forget how handy a batsman he was, especially in the first half of his career.

Srinath, who India would often use as ‘pinch-hitter’, played a plethora of handy knocks for India during the initial half of his career, but his penchant with constant injuries in the succeeding years meant that his batting took a considerable hit. And, perhaps that is the reason why the ‘Mysore Express’ finds himself in this dreaded list.

Srinath batted for India in a total 121 innings during his 229-match ODI career and he was dismissed for a duck on 19 occasions- 11 of those 19 ducks were golden ducks.

Shahid Afridi- 12

Hailed as ‘Boom Boom’ for his penchant towards hitting monstrous sixes, Shahid Afridi was an epitome of what you call an ‘All or nothing’ batsman.

Afridi never cared about the game situation or the pitch conditions. All he cared about, was how could he deposit the ball into the stands. And, perhaps that is why, the guy, who held the record for the fastest ODI hundred (in 37 balls vs Sri Lanka in 1996) for nearly 18 years, also holds the record for the second-most golden ducks in 50-over cricket.

Afridi registered a total of 30 ducks in his 369-inning ODI career, and around 3.25% of those ducks- 12- came on the very first delivery.

Lasith Malinga- 14

Lasith Malinga is one of the greatest-ever fast bowlers to have ever played limited-overs cricket.

Malinga boasts of a number of records in white-ball cricket. The ‘toe-crusher’ specialist is the only bowler to register three ODI hat-tricks including the two hat-tricks in World Cups (in 2007 vs South Africa and against Kenya in the 2011 event). He is also the only bowler to claim four wickets in as many deliveries twice- vs South Africa in the 2007 World Cup and vs New Zealand in a 2019 T20I.

But just like his compatriot Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga is also a quintessential No.11 batsman. The former Sri Lankan captain holds the unwanted record of registering the most number of golden ducks (14) in ODI cricket.

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