"I don’t mind ducks" - Sachin Tendulkar gets witty while sharing picture of feeding bird

Batters hate getting out for a duck [zero] for obvious reasons and Sachin Tendulkar was no exception. The batting legend, however, shared an amusing post on his social media handle on Wednesday, July 31, stating that he doesn't mind ducks.

One of the greatest batters ever, Tendulkar retired from international cricket in November 2013 after a glorious career spanning 24 years. During this international career, the 51-year-old featured in 200 Test matches and 463 ODIs, amassing 15921 and 18426 runs, respectively. The former India captain also claimed 201 international wickets. The Master Blaster played on one T20I, scoring 10 runs.

Post-retirement, the cricketer has taken up the post of mentor of the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is also highly active on social media and keeps fans entertained and engaged with posts, ranging from informative to cheeky and comical. On Wednesday, he shared a humorous post on X.

While uploading a picture of him feeding a duck, he wrote:

"Since retiring from cricket, I don’t mind ducks 😁🦆."

In international cricket, duck refers to a batter getting out without scoring a run. If he or she is dismissed the first ball, it is called a golden duck and if the batter is out without facing a ball [run out in most cases], the dismissal is referred to as a diamond duck.

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How many ducks did Sachin Tendulkar register in international cricket?

Speaking about ducks, Tendulkar was dismissed without scoring only 20 times in 452 ODI innings. On the contrary, he smashed 49 fifties and 96 half-centuries in the format. He was the first player to score a double hundred in ODIs. Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya holds the unwanted record for having registered the most ducks in ODI cricket - 34 in 433 innings.

Looking at Test matches, Tendulkar was dismissed without scoring only 14 times in 329 innings. The Indian batting legend notched up 51 hundreds and 68 fifties in the red-ball format. In the overall list, West Indies fast-bowling genius Courtney Walsh holds the record for most ducks in Test cricket. In 185 innings, he was out without scoring as many as 43 times.