Dravid sets a World Record
by Rajneesh Gupta
Rahul Dravid set a world record in the first final of VB Series on Friday. Dravid has now played 120 consecutive innings without getting dismissed for a duck –most by any batsman in One-Day Internationals. The previous record was on the name of New Zealand’s Martin Crowe, who had a sequence of 119 consecutive ‘duckless’ innings.
Dravid has aggregated four ducks in his LOI career so far - 2 against Pakistan and one each against Australia and South Africa. He last failed to open his account in an Aiwa Cup game against Australia at Colombo (SSC) in August 1999.
New Zealand’s Martin Crowe had a duckless sequence from the 1983-84 to 1992-93. Kepler Wessels holds the unique record of not recording a duck despite playing over 100 innings, albeit for two countries. Wessels played 51 innings for Australia and further 54 innings for South Africa without ever getting dismissed for a duck. The following table lists batsmen playing 75 or more consecutive innings without recording a duck :
Inns Batsman For From To Ducks
120 R Dravid Ind v SL, Colombo, 29-08-1999 v Aus, Melbourne, 06-02-2004 4
119 MD Crowe NZ v Eng, Wellington, 22-02-1984 v Aus, Auckland, 28-03-1993 3
105 KC Wessels Aus/SA v NZ, Melbourne, 09-01-1983 v Pak, Faisalabad, 28-10-1994 0
96 Javed Miandad Pak v WI, Perth, 30-12-1986 v NZ, Auckland, 30-12-1992 8
92 RB Richardson WI v Pak, Multan, 13-11-1990 v Aus, Mohali, 14-03-1996 8
88 DM Jones Aus v SL, Sydney, 23-01-1985 v SL, Sharjah, 02-05-1990 6
86 GA Gooch Eng v Aus, Melbourne, 24-01-1979 v NZ, Auckland, 16-02-1991 4
83 DL Haynes WI v Eng, Brisbane, 23-12-1979 v NZ, Bridgetown, 23-04-1985 13
82 SR Waugh Aus v Pak, Brisbane, 11-02-1990 v Pak, Lahore, 30-10-1994 15
80 Imran Khan Pak v WI, Perth, 30-12-1986 v SL, Karachi, 13-01-1992 6
78 SP Fleming NZ v SL, Christchurch, 26-03-1995 v Aus, Cardiff, 20-05-1999 8
75 DR Martyn Aus v SL, Sydney, 13-01-1999 v Eng, Melbourne, 25-01-2003 8
(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)
