Batsmen with the highest proportion of ducks-to-innings in ODI cricket
The sport of cricket is one that has in recent times started to incline towards favoring the batsmen. With the short boundaries coming into play and bats nowadays customised for either stroke-making or big-hitting, batting has become slightly easier.
Yet, bowlers have also developed various skills to counter the batting prowess and have come out top with the variations. There have been multiple occasions when the best of batsmen have gone back for a duck, with the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya (34), Shahid Afridi (28) and Mahela Jayawardene (28) some of the big names in the list.
In this article, we have a look at four players who have the worst duck-to-innings ratio and have scored a minimum of 1000 runs in ODI cricket.
#4 Kusal Mendis - 0.1613 (Sri Lanka)
The promising wicket-keeper batsman from Sri Lanka rose to fame after a magnificent Test century against Australia in 2016, which eventually helped Sri Lanka beat the Australians.He was also one of the youngest players to score more than 1000 Test runs in a year, which he achieved in 2018.
However, with 10 ducks from 62 ODIs, he holds the 4th position in the list of players with the worst duck-to-innings ratio. He has scored 1692 runs at an average of 28.20 despite this poor record and continues to be an important part of the Sri Lankan batting unit.
#3 Habibul Bashar - 0.1714 (Bangladesh)
One of Bangladesh's best captains in the country's history, it was under his capataincy that Bangladesh started showing the world that they are not just minnows in world cricket. He led them to the super-eight stage in the 2007 World Cup.
Yet, his batting skills did not fetch him great numbers throughout his career. He scored 2168 runs from 111 ODIs at an average of 21.68 and had a poor ratio of 0.1714.
#2 Anamul Haque - 0.1765 (Bangladesh)
Anamul Haque was an elegant wicket-keeper batsman who was praised to be the next big thing for Bangladesh. He led his country in the 2012 U-19 World Cup in Australia and ended as the highest run-scorer for Bangladesh including two centuries.
He scored 1038 runs from 37 ODIs at a healthy average of 30.53 but was also not very consistent, having fallen to a duck on six occasions during his career.
#1 Salman Butt - 0.1923 (Pakistan)
Salman Butt was one of those talented players whose career got cut-short due to the spot fixing activities. He was hailed as the next 'Saeed Anwar' for Pakistan in his early days.
From 78 ODI games, he scored 2725 runs at an average of 36.33 including 8 centuries. The southpaw enjoyed batting against India with five centuries out of his eight coming against the 'Men in Blue'.
However, his form was not consistent and his poor show towards the end of his career saw him falling to a number of ducks as he recorded 15 ducks from a total of 78 ODI matches.
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