The opening slot is a challenging position for any batter. There’s constant pressure to give a good start to the team by scoring runs at a brisk rate.
Plus, openers need to negate the threat posed by the new ball, as bowlers get a bit of help to move the ball. On many occasions, openers have failed to overcome these challenges and lost their wickets early on, bagging undesirable ducks.
Here we’ll look at the top 10 openers who have scored the most ducks in ODI cricket.
Most Ducks as Openers in ODI Cricket
| Player | Innings | Ducks |
|---|---|---|
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 383 | 29 |
| Chris Gayle (WI) | 274 | 23 |
| Tamim Iqbal (BAN) | 240 | 19 |
| Herschelle Gibbs (SA) | 182 | 17 |
| Adam Gilchrist (AUS) | 259 | 17 |
| Nathan Astle (NZ) | 186 | 16 |
| Martin Guptill (NZ) | 174 | 16 |
| Upul Tharanga (SL) | 189 | 16 |
| Aaron Finch (AUS) | 140 | 15 |
| Romesh Kaluwitharana (SL) | 112 | 15 |
Key Insights
29: Sanath Jayasuriya’s 29 ducks are the most by an opener in ODI cricket. Overall, the left-hand batter earned 34 ducks, again the most in this format.
8: Jayasuriya has also logged nine golden ducks in his career, with eight coming as an opener. Martin Guptill (7), Aaron Finch (6), Chris Gayle (6), Litton Das (5), and Ramiz Raja (5) are the other openers with five or more first-ball ducks in ODIs.
10: Over 33 opening batters have scored 10 or more ducks in their respective ODI careers.
8: Herschelle Gibbs, who scored 18 ducks in his career, got out on zero eight times in 2002, which is the most by an opener in a calendar year.
5: Romesh Kaluwitharana is the only opener to register five or more ducks in two calendar years. The Sri Lankan batter logged five ducks each in 1996 and 1997. Here is an interesting incident involving a duck and the former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper.
12: Kennedy Otieno has registered the most ducks as an opener from an associate team. The Kenyan batter got out on zero 12 times in 84 innings.
0: Kepler Wessels played the most odi innings as an opener without scoring a duck. In fact, the right-hand batter didn’t bag a duck in his entire ODI career, batting in 105 innings. As an opener, though, he batted in 82 innings without getting out on zero even once.
