World Cup 2023: Ducks galore in Chennai, hope they stay put

Australia’s ducks were spaced reasonably apart – Mitchell Marsh in the third over, Alex Carey in the 30th. India’s came unchecked – Ishan Kishan off the fourth ball of their innings, Rohit Sharma off the ninth, Shreyas Iyer off the 12th.

Iyer’s dismissal meant India had lost more wickets than they had scored runs at the time; the score board read a miserable two, the first coming off a wide and the second through a leg bye. At the beginning of the third over, there was a zero against the name of all five Indian batsmen.

The last time India’s openers were both dismissed without scoring was back in 2004, against Zimbabwe in a tri-series encounter in Australia. But Sunday marked the first instance of three of India’s top four batsmen failing to open their account. That two of those three – Kishan and Rohit – have ODI double-centuries to their names provided further evidence of cricket’s penchant to be a great leveller.

Heart-breaking and endearing

There is something about the duck that is both heart-breaking and endearing – the former to the unfortunate batsman, the latter to those that are fans of the bowling side. In Australia in the 1980s, an animated duck would accompany the batsman dismissed without tickling the scorers on his long and inglorious walk back to the pavilion. Qasim Umar, the Pakistani batsman of Kenyan origin, showed enough humour amidst his misery when, after being yorked by Kapil Dev in the final of the World Championship of Cricket in 1985, he held the bat as one would a rifle and popped an imaginary gunshot off at the unsuspecting “duck”.

What does one put the string of ducks at the breathless beginning of India’s run-chase down to? Good bowling, yes, but also questionable shot-selection. A duck happens, because that is the nature of a sport where failure is more frequent than success. But why would you want to invite the duck?

Australia’s below-par 199 had come through outstanding spin bowling in helpful conditions by India’s three crack tweakers, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja. Chepauk didn’t lay out a square turner, but there was enough assistance for the slower bowlers. This trio of spinners is as accomplished as one can get; in 30 overs, they returned combined figures of six for 104 with Jadeja striking the telling blows and Kuldeep and Ashwin complementing him superbly.

There was turn and grip; some balls turned from the straight, others either scooted through or bounced appreciably. The track wasn’t ideal for 50-over cricket, but it was far from diabolical. Australia’s 199 was significantly lower than what the conditions demanded.

Challenge of modest targets

Smallish targets can be tricky because teams are prone to being confused about the approach to adopt. Because the required rate in this instance was exactly four, India could have been conservative, but that doesn’t come naturally to Kishan. He wouldn’t have played this game had Shubman Gill not gone down with dengue but having got an unexpected opportunity thanks to his best buddy’s misfortune, he wanted to make his mark.

Kishan’s game is based around aggression, though he has added numerous strings to his bow as evidenced by his calmness and innings-building skills in the middle order in the last month and more. This time, emboldened by the appearance of a modest target, he threw his bat at his first ball in a World Cup, a wide offering from Mitchell Starc. The ball flew off the toe-end of his bat to first slip. First blood, first duck.

In the next over, Rohit received a beauty from Josh Hazlewood, the world’s second-ranked ODI bowler. The ball hit a crack on the dry surface and cut back in sharply, defeating the Indian captain’s hopeful forward half-prod. The ball crashed into his left pad and the bowler went up in appeal. Chris Gaffaney took his time before ruling in Hazlewood’s favour, Rohit’s review in vain with Umpire’s Call holding court. In nine balls, India’s chase was in a shambles. Duck No. 2.

Worse was to follow a couple of minutes later. Iyer, looking nervously to shed the shackles, threw his hands at a wide ball from Hazlewood, without getting his eye in or his feet moving. Casual bordering on the irresponsible, the stroke propelled the ball into the waiting hands of David Warner at short cover. Duck number three, unedifying and inglorious, a reflection of Iyer’s addled decision-making under pressure.

No more ducks, hopefully

India couldn’t duck the reality that they were in a huge hole, largely of their own making. The Promised Land was a zillion miles away, they could afford no more ducks or misadventures. Fortunately for them, they found in Virat Kohli and KL Rahul men to whom the situation was like water off a duck’s back. Unfazed by adversity and energised by the challenge, they rose manfully to the occasion, leaving Australia ducking for cover during their fourth-wicket stand of 165 that was the difference between the two sides.

There’s no shame in courting a duck; the most famous duck in world cricket is Sir Donald Bradman’s in his final Test innings. Needing just four runs to touch 7,000 Test runs and attain a career average of an even 100, the great man was bowled second ball by Eric Hollies. He thus ended with 6,996 runs and averaged 99.94. Not quite the round figure he was hoping for.

India will hope they have used up their fair share of ducks all in one evening. They will take heart from the fact that despite the string of no-scores, they still raced to a six-wicket victory over the five-time former champions with a staggering 52 deliveries in hand. The start of their chase might have been far from ideal, but the start of their campaign is exactly how they would have envisaged, with a ‘W’ and the resultant two points against their name. Eight more league games lie in store, starting with Afghanistan in New Delhi on Wednesday. Hopefully, the ducks will stay put in Chennai, not make the long haul to the national capital.