Out without facing a ball: 11 Indians who have scored diamond ducks in ODIs

Every batsman, however great he is, itches to get off the mark, which eases the nerves and gets his innings underway. A duck, used to represent a score of zero, is the failure no batsman wants to encounter.

A batsman is deemed to have scored a diamond duck when he gets out without facing a single delivery. There can hardly be anything more dissatisfying for a player than this, for this scenario mostly occurs when the batsman gets run out without himself having faced the bowling.

Of the 143 times a batsman has been dismissed for a diamond duck in ODIs, Indians have been on the receiving end on thirteen occasions. The eleven Indians to have faced the ill-fate have been listed in this article.

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#1 Roger Binny

Binny was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning squad

On 6th December 1980, in the third match of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, hosts Australia took on India, who batted first.

Roger Binny, batting at number nine, came into bat at the departure of eventual Man of the Match Sandeep Patil. His stay at the crease was cut short when he was run out in a bid to get Syed Kirmani back on strike, making it the first occurrence of a diamond duck for an Indian batsman. India went on to win the match.

#2 Chetan Sharma

Chetan Sharma is infamous for the last ball six he conceded

In the second final of the 1986 edition of the same Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, bowling all rounder Chetan Sharma became the second Indian to bag a diamond duck.

Coming to partner Ravi Shastri at the crease at number eight, Chetan had to take the long walk back just after a minute in the middle as he was run out without facing a ball. In fact, in what could be termed as a baffling turn of events, as many as five Indian batsmen got run out in that innings, with India eventually losing the match by seven wickets.

#3 Venkatapathy Raju

Raju's early celebration ended up being his nemesis

In a very famous and thrilling encounter against the Aussies in a match of the 1992 Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, India required thirteen of the final over, the equation being brought down to four from the last ball. Javagal Srinath was on strike and he cleanly slogged Tom Moody's ball towards Steve Waugh at mid-wicket.

What followed is best captured by Waugh himself, who went on to recollect in his autobiography, "In my eagerness to take the match winning catch, I overran the chance." Spilling a very easy chance by his standards, Waugh, who saw non-striker Raju pumping his fist in joy of starting the third run, fired in a throw from the deep 'with all the force' he had in him.

David Boon collected the ball and completed a run out which meant that Raju became the third Indian to endure the fate of a diamond duck, and India lost the match by one run. The Benson & Hedges World Series Cup coincidentally proved India's nemesis as far as diamond ducks are concerned.

#4 Javagal Srinath

Srinath had his own technique of scoring runs

After already having been involved in Venkatpathy Raju's run out in March 1992, Indian pacer Srinath himself bagged a diamond duck in December same year.

Walking in to bat with one ball left in India's innings against South Africa at Newlands, Srinath was at the non-striker's end as state mate Anil Kumble was facing. In a bid to steal a bye the duo ran, but were unsuccessful in their attempt as wicket-keeper Dave Richardson found Srinath short of his ground. India ended up losing the match.

#5 Abey Kuruvilla

Kuruvilla is a forgotten cricketer of the past

Unknown to many, Abey Kuruvilla was a right arm medium pacer who represented India in 25 ODIs, all of them played in the year 1997.

In the third ODI of India's 1997 tour of West Indies, Kuruvilla came in to bat at number ten to partner Noel David, another lesser known cricketer who played just four ODIs, all in the same year.

However, the medium pacer could not get a crack at the West Indian bowling as he had to walk back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers, but also without facing a single delivery. India, who were chasing 250 for victory, lost the match by 18 runs.

#6 Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Sidhu was an aggressive opening batsman

One of the only two specialist batsmen to feature on this list, Navjot Singh Sidhu faced the plight of making the long walk back without facing a single delivery while opening the batting.

In the first match of the 1998 Independence Cup played to commemorate the silver jubilee of Bangladesh's independence, India came out to bat first as Sidhu accompanied Sourav Ganguly to the middle. On the fifth ball of the first over of the innings, Sidhu ran for a needless run only to be sent back by the Ganguly, and was found short of his ground as Javed Omar sent in an accurate throw.

India, however, comfortably won the match by four wickets.

#7 MSK Prasad

Prasad is best known for his stint as Chief of the Selection panel

The current head of India's national selection panel, MSK Prasad kept wicket for India in 17 ODIs and batted at number seven in the batting order.

In the third ODI of the 1999 Aiwa Cup against Sri Lanka, Prasad was ill fated to get run out without even facing a ball as he was unable to complete a potential second run with partner Ajay Jadeja. India ended up losing the match.

#8 Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan played many valuable knocks

Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh became the eighth Indian to score a diamond duck in the ninth match of the 2002 Natwest series in England.

Batting first against Sri Lanka, India had just lost centurion Tendulkar when the Turbanator joined Mohammad Kaif in the middle. However, Bhajji could not make any contribution with the bat as he had to return to the pavilion without even facing a delivery. India comfortably won the match in the end.

#9 Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is the only Indian to bag a diamond duck more than once

Zaheer Khan was a great exponent of reverse swing and a potent weapon in the Indian bowling armoury, but his batting skills were certainly not amongst the best. To add to this, his luck with the bat was not great as the left armed pacer faced the embarrassment of bagging diamond ducks three times in his ODI career.

The first of these instances came in India's 2003 World Cup match against England at Durban, when the last Indian to bag a diamond duck- Harbhajan Singh- inflicted the pain on Zaheer, as the duo tried to scrape through for a bye on the penultimate ball of the innings.

The second time when Zaheer faced this plight was when he tried to run a quick single off the last ball of an over to give strike to Rahul Dravid in the Tsunami Relief Fund ODI played between the ACC Asian XI and ICC World XI, which the latter won convincingly.

The third time and thankfully for Zaheer his last such instance came in 2007 in the sixth ODI of the series against England. In a critical run chase being led by Robin Uthappa, Zaheer had to sacrifice his wicket for the team's cause as India went on to win an enthralling encounter.

#10 S Sreesanth

Sreesanth was never short of energy on the cricket field

Just like many other bowlers who feature on this list, Sreesanth ended up conceding a diamond duck owing to an attempt of an unlikely last ball single with partner Venugopal Rao, in an ODI against Pakistan in 2006. India lost the match to their arch rivals by six wickets.

#11 Virat Kohli

Kohli has come a long way from where he was in 2010

The most recent occurrence of an Indian getting out without facing a ball came in the first ODI of a the 2010 tri-series that involved hosts Zimbabwe, India and Sri Lanka. India batted first in a match with Zimbabwe, and Virat Kohli walked out at number three to replace Murali Vijay, who was run out.

Dinesh Karthik reverse swept a Ray Price delivery towards short third man and the young legs of Kohli and Karthik decided to steal a cheeky single. However, to Kohli's horror, Elton Chigumbara fired in a direct hit that found the diving Virat short of the ground, forcing the Indian gem to settle with a diamond duck on his way back to the pavilion.