When there were ten ducks in the two Sri Lankan innings in a Test against India?
(10 Aug 2001)
Even the best of batsmen fail to open their account in Test cricket.
And two or three ducks in a Test match is probably par for the
course. But when there are ten ducks in a Test match, then it is time
to sit up and take proper notice of what happened.
What happened during the Test match under consideration - the one off
Test between India and Sri Lanka at Chandigarh in November 1990 - is
that it was played on a dreadful surface. And India, enjoying the
advantage of batting first, probably did well in getting 288. But in a
way the Indians led the way for the `duck brigade'' that followed. For,
the last two batsmen Gopal Sharma and Narendra Hirwani failed to
trouble the scorers.
But things became really rough for the batsmen when the Sri Lankans
batted. The wicket deteriorated and left arm spinner Venkatpathi Raju
ran through the visitors' batting. As many as five Lankans -
Tillekeratne, Atapattu, Ratnayake, Labrooy and Warnaweera - failed to
score as the team were shot out for 82. Following on, the team did
better before being all out for 198 and losing by an innings and eight
runs. But again five batsmen failed to score. Atapattu, Ratnayake and
Labrooy got a pair while Gurusinha, who top scored in the first innings
with a heroic unbeaten 52, was this time out for a duck. Last man
Warnaweera remained not out with zero.
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