Five Indian batsmen who were out for a duck on ODI debut

Shikhar Dhawan – Arguably India’s replacement to Virender Sehwag

Horrifying debut of great Indian playersWe have seen that some players start their cricketing journey by scoring impressive hundred on debut. Some of them were able to carry their form forward, others faded away after a fabulous start. On the other hand, there are some players started their career with a duck on debut and then became a stalwart of the team.Indian ODI team blessed to have such players who blossomed after a worst possible to start. Here is a list which includes 5 Indian batsmen who were dismissed on nought on their debut.

#5 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan – Arguably India’s replacement to Virender Sehwag

Shikhar Dhawan was the leading run-getter for India on their successful Champions Trophy campaign in 2013, by scoring 363 runs at a splendid average of 90.75 and a remarkable strike rate of 101.39. He along with Rohit Sharma has put up some excellent opening partnerships for India. He was one of the bright spots of India’s terrible series loss against Bangladesh recently.

The left-handed batsman is gifted with timing and is able to clear the ropes. His drives through off-side are delightful to watch. He is arguably India’s replacement to Virender Sehwag since he can give explosive starts.

Dhawan played his first ODI on October 20, 2010, against Australia in a day-night match. India elected to field against the Kangaroos and they posted a challenging 289-3 by virtue of Michael Clark’s 111*.

Murali Vijay and Dhawan opened the match, the latter was on the striker’s end. Dhawan left the first delivery was bowled by Clint McKay, but he was gone for a duck in the next ball. It was a length ball from McKay which took the off-stump of Dhawan.

India won the match by 5 wickets by means of Kohli’s 118 and half-centuries from Yuvraj and Raina.

#4 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina – Elegant left-hand batsman and a live-wire on the field

Suresh Raina is a complete package for every captain, a good batsman, excellent fielder and a partnership breaker. He is a team man and does everything for the team. He is the first man to pat on a bowler's back or a fielder who has taken a catch when a wicket falls. The kind of energy he brings into the team is amazing.

He batted at 5 or 6 for the most part of his career and can clear the boundary ropes with ease at will. The Indian middle order batsman has scored 5500 runs at an average of 36.18 and a terrific strike rate of 93.80.

Raina debuted against Sri Lanka on July 30, 2005, as a No.6 batsman, but he was back in the pavilion without able to get off the mark, plumbed in front by the great Muralitharan. The southpaw failed to read the dosara and tried to cut the ball.

India bowled out for 205 and lost the match by 3 wickets.

#3 VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman – One among the fab-four of Indian Cricket

Very very special Laxman is known for his wristy batting and was always a nightmare for Australia. He had played exceptionally against the Aussies. He is one of the fab-four of Indian Test team along with Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly. He possessed the rare ability to play the same ball on either side of the ground.

Laxman had a wonderful Test career, but his ODI career was not as fruitful as Tests. He has scored 2338 runs at an average of 30.76 with 6 hundreds. He debuted against Zimbabwe in the Pepsi triangular series in 1998.

The elegant batsman came to bat in the 4th over after Tendulkar dismissed for 1, but it turned out to be a disastrous outing. He was adjudged LBW of Mbangwa without opening his account after 3 deliveries. Even though the top order failed, Azharuddin and Jadeja added an unbeaten 275 runs for the 4th wicket and India posted a huge 301 in 50 overs. India went on to win the match by 32 runs.

#2 MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni – The greatest finisher of modern game

Dhoni has a tremendous ODI career, 8620 runs at an average of 52.24 and a strike rate of 88.95. The greatest finisher of the modern game is also the most successful ODI captain of India. His Indian team won the ODI World Cup in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013.

On the start of his career, he was an attacking batsman from ball one, later he changed his style to suit team’s cause. Batting at No.6 is never easy because more often than not the player has to bat with tail-enders and shift gears when needed and he succeeded in it more than anyone. He also had come up the order according to the situation several times.

The captain-cool had a horrible start to his one-day career as he had gone for a golden duck on his debut. India toured Bangladesh for a three-match series in December 2004 and were asked to bat in the 1st ODI. When the wicket-keeper batsman walked in India were 180-5 in the 42nd over, a debutant’s nerve had done him. He started to run after putting bat to ball, but Kaif sent back him. Unfortunately, before Dhoni could reach the crease Khaled Masud whipped the bails of a Tapash Baisya throw.

India scored 245 runs, thanks to Kaif’s 80(111) and Bangladesh fell short of 11 runs.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar – All time greatest ODI batsmen

The words of Zimbabwean legend Andy flower is enough to describe how good a batsman Sachin was. “There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all others". The cricketing God is the highest run-getter in both ODIs and Tests. The Mumbaikar has 100 international centuries under his belt.

Tendulkar was a better batsman in ODIs compared to Tests (He recently voted as the best Test player in the 21st Century!), 463 matches, 18426 runs and 49 hundreds. These feats may not be broken, because all these records are super-human.

But All time greatest ODI batsmen, started his career by scoring zero on debut. It was in 1989 Dec 18, India were up against their arch-rivals Pakistan. Pakistan batted first and scored 87-9 in their quota of 16 overs.

In reply, India were struggling for 33-3, the 16-year-old boy joined Azharuddin in the middle only to walk back without troubling the scorers, caught by Wasim Akram bowled by Waqar Younis. India lost the match by 7 runs.

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Edited by Staff Editor