PSL 2017: Umar Akmal breaks the record for most ducks in T20 cricket
Pakistan’s Umar Akmal created a dubious record in last night’s Lahore Qalandars’ Pakistan Super League (PSL) game against Peshawar Zalmi at Dubai when he was dismissed for a duck by Zalmi’s Hasan Ali. With this dismissal, Akmal overtook Herschelle Gibbs’ record of 23 ducks in Twenty20 matches and moves to the top of the list with 24 ducks.
Incidentally, Akmal equalled Gibbs’ record a couple of days (against Quetta Gladiators) before he actually broke it. Akmal, who is one of Pakistan’s best in this format, has played 204 innings in his career and failed to score a single run before getting out on 24 occasions. Gibbs with 23 ducks is tied in the second place with Sri Lankan great Tillakaratne Dilshan and West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith but has played fewer innings (167) when compared to Dilshan (217) and Smith (270).
The top 11 also features two Indian cricketers in it. Gautam Gambhir leads the Indians’ chart with 18 ducks in 213 innings while Harbhajan Singh comes in next with 17 in 130 innings. Though most of these players played at least 100 innings to get 17 ducks, New Zeeland off-spinner Jeetan Patel took only 68 innings to get out for a duck on 17 occasions, once every four innings.
The other names in the list are Lendl Simmons, Luke Wright, Thissara Perera and Phil Mustard, names that are proven match winners in this format. Surprisingly, Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who is often made fun of for getting out on duck doesn’t feature in the top 11 as he was dismissed for a duck on 16 occasions in 208 innings.
Also read: Fixing will continue in Pakistan until guilty players are banned forever, blasts Shahid Afridi
Last night, Qalandars almost broke the record for the shortest innings in T20 format as they managed to bat for just 10.2 overs, 1.4 overs more than the shortest. They crumbled for just 59 runs and Zalmi somehow crawled past the line by 3 wickets with just 18 balls to spare. Here is the list of batsmen with most ducks in T20 matches.
S.No | Batsman | Country | No. of Innings | Ducks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Umar Akmal | Pakistan | 204 | 24 |
2 | Herschelle Gibbs | South Africa | 167 | 23 |
3 | Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 217 | 23 |
4 | Dwayne Smith | Pakistan | 270 | 23 |
5 | Lendl Simmons | West Indies | 178 | 20 |
6 | Luke Wright | England | 254 | 20 |
7 | Thissara Perera | Sri Lanka | 162 | 18 |
8 | Gautam Gambhir | India | 213 | 18 |
9 | Jeetan Patel | New Zealand | 68 | 17 |
10 | Harbhajan Singh | India | 130 | 17 |
11 | Phil Mustard | England | 170 | 17 |
*Last updated on 13 February 2017