What is Golden Duck in Cricket? All You Need to Know
A golden duck is an instance when a batter gets out on the very first ball. The idea is supposed to have come from the Olympics' rule of giving a gold medal to the “first” placed athlete.
Image Credits: Stu Forster - ECB/ECB via Getty Images
A “duck” in cricket refers to an instance when a batter gets out without scoring any runs in that particular innings. A golden duck is an instance when a batter gets out on the very first ball. The idea of this term is supposed to have originated from the Olympic rules of giving gold to the “first” placed athlete.
How many types of ducks are there in cricket?
Apart from the often happening golden duck, cricket has six more types of ducks - silver duck, bronze duck, diamond duck, royal duck, laughing duck, pair and king pair.
Image Credits: @PictureSporting
While a silver duck is referred to when a batsman gets out on the second delivery of one’s innings, a bronze duck is called when a batter is dismissed on the third delivery.
A Diamond duck is called out when a batter gets out without facing a legal delivery, which happens during run-outs and time-outs. On the other hand, a Royal duck occurs when an opening batsman gets out on a golden duck. A laughing duck is coined for a situation when the batter is dismissed on the very last ball of an innings.
The last two kinds of ducks are pair and king pair ducks. A pair duck is when a batsman gets out on zero in both the innings of a Test match. A king pair, on the other hand, is when a batter gets out on a golden duck in both the innings of a Test match.
Most Golden Ducks in Cricket: Tests & ODIs
While getting out for a golden duck in T20Is is understandable given the very limited balls a team get to score as many runs as possible, the number of golden ducks and ducks in the longer formats of cricket like Tests and ODIs is stunning.
ODIs could still put some pressure on the lower order to score quick runs while chasing in the death overs, Test cricket often allows most players the time to settle at the crease. However, the list below still sees some seasoned all-rounders succumbing to a golden duck.
Most Golden Ducks in Test Cricket
| Sl: No. | Players | Nation | Matches | Ducks | Golden Ducks | Percentage |
| 1 | Muttiah Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 133 | 33 | 14 | 8.54 % |
| 2 | Rangana Herath | Sri Lanka | 93 | 23 | 11 | 7.64 % |
| 3 | Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 132 | 43 | 10 | 5.41 % |
| 4 | Stuart Broad | England | 167 | 39 | 10 | 4.12 % |
| 5 | James Anderson | England | 188 | 34 | 9 | 3.4 % |
Former Sri Lanka player and bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan has been out on the first ball the most number of times in Test cricket - 14 times. The highest wicket-taker in the world with 800 scalps to his name was often the last man to bat for the Lankans and batting was not his strong suit. He has been dismissed without scoring on 33 occasions in the 133 Tests he has played. Interestingly, Muralitharan also has a fifty to his name in the longest format.
Image Credits: @virendenews24
He is followed by compatriot Rangana Herath, yet another spinner who couldn’t bat that well. Though he has played 40 Test matches less than Muralitharan he ended his career with three golden ducks less than the smiling assassin. His percentage of getting out on the very first ball is 7.64%.
West Indies bowling legend Courtney Walsh is third on this list of scoring the most golden list with 10 to his name in 167 Tests. Interestingly, Walsh’s record of golden ducks was the most until 2017 before Muralitharan and Herath leapfrogged him to attain this unwanted record. Walsh played 132 Tests and was dismissed without scoring a single run 53 times.
Image Credits: @AMP86793444
Walsh is followed by England’s pace bowling duo of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. Both the batters came in the lower order during their career and have registered 10 and nine golden ducks respectively. While Broad improved his batting skills with time, even having a century and 13 half-centuries with the red ball, Anderson remained England’s lethal bowling specialist until the very last day of his career.
Most Golden Ducks in ODI Cricket
| Sl No. | Player | Nation | Matches | Ducks | Golden Ducks | Percentage |
| 1 | Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 226 | 26 | 13 | 10.92 % |
| 2 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 398 | 30 | 12 | 3.25 % |
| 3 | Wasim Akram | Pakistan | 356 | 28 | 10 | 3.57 % |
| 4 | Moin Khan | Pakistan | 219 | 17 | 10 | 5.46 % |
| 5 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 445 | 34 | 9 | 2.08 % |
It is yet another Sri Lankan bowler who tops the chart with the batsman having the most number of golden ducks in One Day Internationals. The king of Yorker, as he is popularly known, Lasith Malinga has 13 golden ducks in 226 ODIs. While his toe-crushing yorkers won Sri Lanka countless games in the white ball format, Malinga was a liability with the bat and registered 26 ducks in the 50-over format.
Pakistan’s legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi has the second most number of golden ducks to his name in ODIs. Known for his explosive batting style, Afridi was also faulted for his lack of temperament as he gave away his wicket cheaply on numerous occasions. He is the only proper batting all-rounder to have 30 ducks on this list, apart from registering six centuries and 39 fifties.
Image Credits: @theFaizFazel
Afridi’s compatriot and the Sultan of swing bowling, Wasim Akram sits third on the list with 10 golden ducks in ODIs, having gotten out on the very first ball on 3.57% in his ODI career. He has 28 ducks as well in the 356 ODIs he played in.
On fourth is former Pakistan wicket-keeper Moin Khan, who is a surprising addition given his ability with the bat. A lower middle-order batsman for Pakistan, Moin Khan was a reliable batsman for the Men in Green having 12 half-centuries in ODIs. However, he has 10 golden ducks and 17 ducks to his name in the 50-over format.
The list gets stranger as we go further down with Sri Lanka’s former explosive batsman and a pioneer of ODI opening batsmanship Sanath Jayasuriya sitting at number five. The cricketer with 28 centuries and 68 half-centuries to his name also has nine golden ducks and 34 ducks. The fifth-highest run scorer in ODIs has played a whopping 445 matches and gotten out on 0 a mind-boggling 43 times.
Golden Ducks on debut matches by Indian players
If getting a golden duck isn’t embarrassing enough, the Indian cricket team has seen numerous players getting out on the first ball in their maiden game for the national team. Interestingly, this unfortunate record is held by some of the superstars in cricket.
Image Credits: @thecrickettvX
Among the current lot, world-class batsmen like KL Rahul and Prithvi Shaw have scored a golden duck in their debut matches. World Cup winners like Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni have made a golden duck on debut. From the older lot, the likes of Avishkar Salvi, Lalchand Rajput, Maninder Singh, Yograj Singh, B Reddy, MS Hardikar and G Kishenchand have also gotten golden ducks in their very first match for the nation.
King of cricket, Virat Kohli, is also not spared. The former Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper has as many as six golden ducks in his IPL career, three of which came in the IPL 2022 season.
Image Credits: @MadrasTribune
Among the few sports that is almost three centuries old, cricket has numerous terminologies with context going back hundreds of years. The term “duck” is one such example, which was derived from a duck’s egg after a newspaper that described the Prince of Wales’ 0-run innings as "retired to the royal pavilion on a 'duck's egg' ".
FAQs
A cricketer is called a death bowler when one specializes in bowling the death overs in white-ball cricket. A good death bowler excels in checking runs on the last three overs of a 50-over or 20-over game.
Former India cricket team captain Virat Kohli has had 37 ducks in international cricket across Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
An M.A. in English Literature, Subhayan is an experienced journalist and sports writer. Having worked as a journalist at Hindustan Times, Subhayan covered diverse beats including sports, education, and health, showcasing his versatility and in-depth understanding of various subjects.