Rare & unwanted! Shreyas Iyer becomes first Indian dismissed on a duck on ODI captaincy debut; Check others on list
Shreyas Iyer registered an unwanted record on Friday that no other cricketer would want to experience in his career after the Indian skipper got out for a duck on his ODI captaincy debut against New Zealand. After leading India to a 3-2 series victory in the T20Is, Iyer was handed the ODI captaincy for the last two games after Shubman Gill left for Tests.
Gill led India in the first three ODIs against New Zealand, winning two while the third game was abandoned due to rain. It was the first time Iyer was leading the Indian ODI team. Sent into bat first, Will Young made India pay for themselves with a brilliant 125, leading New Zealand to 333 all out.
In reply, Iyer, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, all got out in the first over of the chase with no runs on board. In the process, Iyer became the first Indian captain to be dismissed for a duck on his first match as a captain. Before Iyer, seven other cricketers had registered this unwanted feat.
Harilal Shah, a middle-order batter in Kenya, became the first batter in the world to score a duck on his ODI captaincy debut when he led East Africa in the inaugural World Cup in 1975. Shah scored ducks in his first two games (against New Zealand and India) before scoring six against England.
The last time any cricketer scored a duck on his captaincy debut was Bangladesh’s Rajen Saleh against South Africa in 2004. The list also includes the likes of South African pacer Shaun Pollock and former West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan.
What happened in IND vs NZ 4th ODI?
Will Young made a career-best 125 and Matt Henry dismissed Rohit, Kohli and Iyer in his first over as New Zealand beat India by 244 runs Friday in the fourth ODI. Henry finished with his career-best of 6/27 as India was bowled out for in 89 in 26.4 overs, suffering its second largest in terms of runs in ODIs.
India still leads the series 2-1 ahead of the final match at the same venue on Sunday but New Zealand now has a chance of avoiding its first loss in in ODI series at home in seven years. Young was dropped twice with his score on five and made India pay, reaching a century from 88 balls as New Zealand made 333 after being sent in to bat first.
India had a new captain as Iyer took over from Shubman Gill but its success with the toss continued as Iyer won its eighth toss from nine matches across the T20 and ODI series and sent New Zealand. For the first time in this series, Friday’s match was played in fine, sunny weather.
