According to Wikipedia, a duck in the game of cricket is a batsman’s dismissal with a score of zero. A batsman being dismissed off their first delivery faced is known as a golden duck.
Players getting out before opening their account is seen as a mini-tragedy in cricket, especially if he is one of the top batsmen in the side.
Bonus: When a batter is out for a duck in both innings of a Test match, it is called a Pair. You can find out about Pair in Cricket in detail in this article. And, when it happens in the first balls he faced in both innings, it is called King Pair. You can read the list of all King Pairs in Test cricket here.
Here, in this article will list the top ten cricketers who have been out for duck most time in their career in all three formats of international cricket together.
Most Ducks in International Cricket (All Formats)
| PLAYER | DUCK OUTS | TEST | ODI | T20I | TOTAL INNINGS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) | 59 | 33 | 25 | 1 | 328 |
| Courtney Walsh (WI) | 54 | 43 | 11 | 0 | 264 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 53 | 15 | 34 | 4 | 651 |
| Glenn McGrath (AUS) | 49 | 35 | 14 | 0 | 207 |
| Stuart Broad (ENG) | 49 | 39 | 8 | 2 | 338 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 47 | 15 | 28 | 4 | 725 |
| Daniel Vettori (NZ) | 46 | 20 | 23 | 3 | 383 |
| Wasim Akram (PAK) | 45 | 17 | 28 | 0 | 427 |
| Chris Gayle (WI) | 44 | 15 | 25 | 4 | 551 |
| Zaheer Khan (IND) | 44 | 29 | 15 | 0 | 232 |
| Shahid Afridi (PAK) | 44 | 6 | 30 | 8 | 508 |
| Shane Warne (AUS) | 44 | 34 | 10 | 0 | 306 |
Key Stats
Only four names in the top ten list are proper batters, and when you check the ratio of them being duck-out to the number of innings they have batted, it seems fine.
Here are the batsmen who top the duck list, format-wise:
- ODI – Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) – 34
- Test – Courtney Walsh (WI) – 43
- Kevin O’Brien (IRE) – 12
Jayasuriya is also the batter who has been dismissed most times in ODI cricket – 415 times, followed by Sachin Tendulkar – 411.
Bonus: You can also read about some famous streaks of ducks in this article.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma is the first Indian batsman to have been dismissed for duck 10 times in T20 internationals.
Virat Kohli, one of the modern-day greats in the limited overs format, dismissed for noughts 15 times in ODI cricket, is the highest among the active cricketers in the format.
Stuart Broad, one of the favorites to beat Courtney Walsh’s record, has registered 39 duck-outs for England so far.
Read now: Batsmen who have faced more balls in cricket history
