3 Indian stars who scored a duck on their ODI debut

To absorb the pressure of international cricket is not an easy task. Many talented players, emerging on the back of brilliant performances in domestic cricket, find it difficult to get into the groove of international cricket.

Few players take some time to adjust with the toughest level, while some are not able to cope with it ever. There have been many cricketers who made a name for themselves after an early scramble in international cricket.

In this article, we talk about 3 Indian stars who scored a duck in their debut ODI match:

1. Sachin Tendulkar:

Waqar Younis had Sachin caught off Wasim Akram in his debut match.

What Sachin Tendulkar achieved in international cricket is not worth deliberating. Specifically, in ODI cricket, he accrued records which are nearly impossible to breach.

Most runs, most hundreds, most fifties, most Man of the Match awards - there is no aspect where Sachin is second to anyone, at least for now. After becoming an opener in ODI cricket, Sachin unleashed his real calibre as he went on to shatter records with almost every match he played.

In his ODI career. which spanned over 22 years, Sachin scored a mammoth 18,426 runs in 463 matches at an average of 44.83 and a strike rate of 86.24. To aid the act, he scored 49 centuries and 96 half-centuries. Sachin won the Man of the Match award 62 times, the most by any batsman in ODI cricket history.

World Cup - the pinnacle of ODI cricket, has been the testimony to Sachin's brilliance as the Little Master holds the record for most runs, most centuries and most half-centuries in the showpiece event.

Tendulkar had made his ODI debut as a middle-order batsman and made a duck in his first outing, followed by another one in the next match. The first match was against Pakistan, while the second was against New Zealand. Sachin had faced just 2 balls each in both games.

2. Mahendra Singh Dhoni:

A nervous MS Dhoni fell run-out for a golden duck.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is someone whose name regularly crops up when discussing the best finishers in ODI cricket. Having played in the lower-middle order predominantly, Dhoni has scored above 10,000 runs so far in his ODI career.

With his ability to remain cool in tough circumstances, Dhoni has seen India through a considerable number of times, and this act has rightly brought the tag of 'best finisher' for him.

So far in his career, Dhoni has scored 10,500 runs in 341 matches at an average of 50.72 & a strike rate of 87.56; he has scored 10 centuries and 71 half-centuries.

Dhoni made his ODI debut back in the year 2005 against Bangladesh. In the first match of three-match ODI series, Dhoni came to bat in the 42nd over and unfortunately got run-out in the very first ball. But Dhoni did not bother and it took him only 42 innings to climb to number 1 in ICC ODI rankings in April 2006.

3. Shikhar Dhawan:

Shikhar Dhawan could not read an out-swinger from Clint Mckay.

The swashbuckling left-hander is one of the batsmen to play ODI cricket for India in recent times. Shikhar Dhawan holds the record for scoring the fastest 1000, 2000 and 3000 runs in ODI cricket for India.

He has been a phenomenon, especially in ICC tournaments where he is the only batsman in the history to win two consecutive Golden Bats at ICC Champions Trophy. He is also the fastest batsman to complete 1000 runs in ICC tournaments.

Dhawan had made his ODI debut in the year 2010 against Australia, and fell for a duck, opening the innings with Murali Vijay. After five more chances on the Windies tour that followed the ICC World Cup 2011, he was dropped from the team. Around a couple of years later, Dhawan made a comeback to the ODI side in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and re-started his career with a bang, scoring back-to-back centuries against South Africa and West Indies.