What is a Diamond Duck in Cricket

Cricket is the world’s second most popular spectator sport. The batsmen are the star players of a cricket match and it is an embarrassment if a batsman gets out without scoring a single run. In cricketing terminology, it is called getting out on a duck.

There is also a terminology “Diamond Duck” and I will be sharing the details about this very interesting type of dismissal in this article.

What is a Diamond Duck?

A diamond duck is a type of dismissal in which a batsman gets out without playing a single ball. This happens when a batsman is at the non-striker’s end and gets run out. Below mentioned are some of the famous diamond duck dismissals that have occurred in cricketing history.

5 Famous Diamond Duck Dismissals

1-The 2002 match between Pakistan and Australia was super embarrassing for Pakistan. In the first innings, Pakistan were all out for 59 and they did not fare any better in the second innings, getting only 52 runs. Yes, you read that right….Pakistan managed to make a grand total of 112 runs in their two innings. Pakistan had struggled right from the first over. On the sixth ball, Imran Nazir called Taufeeq Umar for a run. But Ricky pointing’s fast throw was caught by Glen McGrath who hit the stumps. Umar was run out and had to go back without even facing a ball

2- Another diamond duck came in 2003 during a match between Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Pakistan team were in for a surprise when their star player Younis Khan was run out for nought without having faced a single delivery. Eventually Pakistan were able to win the match by a single wicket.

3- In 2004 India had comfortably won its first test against Pakistan in Multan. The 2nd test match though was a different story. In the first innings, Pakistan dismissed India for 287 who conceded a lead of 202 runs. But the 2nd innings proved even worse. After the dismissal of Akash Chopra at 15, Rahul Dravid came to bat at the non-striker’s end. Virendra Sehwag pushed the ball towards the point for a quick run. The strategy proved fatal as Rahul was run out by a brilliant throw by Imran Farhat to the stumps.

4- The Indian team’s tour of Australia in 2007-8 was memorable for a lot of things. While there was a brilliant display of cricket from both sides, the tour was also plagued with by a lot of controversies. It is fondly remembered for the diamond duck dismissal of Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. The Indian team was already in bad shape with 157 runs scored at a loss of 7 wickets. Harbhajan was the last hope as he had the calibre of scoring good runs. But nothing materialised as he was run out by Mike Hussey. He had to go back without scoring a single run.

5-In the Ashes tour of 2010-11, Australia had a very poor performance. In the 2nd test match, opening batsmen Simon Katich who was at the non-striker’s end responded rather late to Shane Watson’s call for a run. England’s Jonathan Trott pounced on the ball and hit the stumps sending Katich back to the pavilion without facing a ball.

Diamond duck is a very rare phenomenon in cricket. Only a handful of such dismissals have occurred in the 200 years of cricketing history. Can you imagine what the cricketing odds will be for such a dismissal? Are you brave enough to place a bet on this method of dismissal?