Five Famous Players Who Took A Wicket Off Their First Ball In ODIs

It is always an ecstatic feeling to get a wicket for players to get a wicket off their very first delivery in any format. No matter how much a player is experienced, he/she is bound to feel nervous when delivering their first ball in international cricket. For occasional bowlers or specialist batsmen, the nervousness is tenfold.

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Yet, such men have had dream starts when rolling their arms, having bagged a wicket off the first ball of their ODI career. Some of these players also managed to get the scalp of the opposition’s star players, stunning them. They couldn’t have asked for a beginning as better than that to one aspect of the game.

We take a look at five players, who picked up a wicket off the first ball of their ODI careers:

Inzamam-Ul-Haq:

Inzamam-Ul-Haq rolled his arms for the first time in ODIs in 1991. The former Pakistan captain got the big fish in the form of Brian Lara in Faisalabad. Imran Khan brought him into the attack to break the 93-run stand between Lara and Carl Hopper, and Inzamam was successful in doing so.

The former Pakistan captain bowled three overs and conceded 24 runs for a wicket apart from mustering 60 runs. Despite that, the hosts failed to chase down the required score of 204, losing by 17 runs eventually. In his 378-ODI career, Inzamam-Ul-Haq went on to claim three more wickets and was one of the best players produced by Pakistan.

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has emerged as one of the best swing bowlers for India in recent times, regardless of the format. His injury-stricken ODI career began brightly in Chennai in 2012, having cleaned up Mohammad Hafeez with a stunning in-swinger that uprooted the off-stump. Hafeez departed for nought in the first ball of the innings.

The Meerut pacer was the pick of the bowlers, having ended up with figures of 9-3-37-2. Despite that, the hosts couldn’t stop Pakistan from chasing down 228, spearheaded by Nasir Jamshed’s century and Younis Khan’s half-century. As of today, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has 132 wickets in 114 games at 34.60.

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Sir Clive Llyod:

One of the finest captains, boasting of an impressive World Cup record, Sir Clive Lloyd also makes it to the elite list. As a captain, in 1973 at the Oval, Lloyd brought himself into the attack to send down some medium pace deliveries. It worked straight away as he created an opening by dismissing Mike Smith and the opposing captain, Mike Denness.

The two-time World Cup-winning captain finished with figures of 11-2-25-2. Along with Maurice Foster, he was the only other bowler to pick two wickets. The West Indies chased down the target of 190 with seven wickets to spare and without needing Clive Llyod to bat. The former skipper took ten wickets in 87 ODIs.

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Kevin O’Brien:

One of Ireland’s elite cricketers, Kevin O’Brien bowled in the nation’s first-ever One-day international against England in 2006 in Belfast. O’Brien’s medium pace plucked the wicket of captain Andrew Strauss for four. He finished with figures of 10-0-47-1. While pursuing 302, the Irishmen fought tooth and nail; however, could make only 263.

The 36-year old scored 35 off 48 deliveries while batting at number eight. Five years later, O’Brien would go on to stun England in the 2011 World Cup by smashing a hundred off 50 deliveries and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Thus far, the Dublin-born cricketer has played 145 ODIs, snapping 113 scalps.

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Keemo Paul:

Keemo Paul is relatively new to international cricket; however, a very handy all-rounder. Nevertheless, he grabbed the spotlight in March 2018 in Harare, having dismissed Javed Ahmadi off his first ODI ball. Javed Ahmadi departed for 1, having been adjudged stone-dead LBW.

Before that with the bat, the Guyanese all-rounder contributed 16 runs to the cause. However, the West Indies weren’t able to prevent Afghanistan from chasing 198 to win. Rahmat Shah’s half-century guided the Afghans to a three-wicket victory. In 19 ODIs so far, the 22-year-old has taken 23 scalps at an economy rate of 6.04.

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