Colombo, Feb 8 (IANS) Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka achieved an unwanted record, becoming the batter to score the most zeroes in T20 International when he got out for a duck in their match against Ireland in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
Shanaka was out for a first-ball duck when he miscued a swing at a thigh-high full toss on off, but his attempt for a big six skewed for a leading edge which was caught by Mark Adair at short third, taking it perilously close to the ground, despite theball being in the air for a long time, giving him lot of time to get into position. For some time, there were doubts that the ball was aimed too high at the waist and could be a no-ball. But the ball tracker showed it was 16 cm below the waist and thus a legal delivery, and Shanaka had to leave the field.
This was the 16th zero scored by Shanaka, a 34-year-old tailender, in 113 T20I innings, thus breaking the unwanted record held by Zappy Bimenyimana of Rwanda, who has compiled 15 zeroes in 62 matches.
Shanaka thus has most ducks in his kitty in T20I format with Ireland’s Paul Stirling in third place with 14 ducks from158 matches, while C. Chatphaisan of Thailand is fourth with 13 zeroes from 52 matches. Among the Test playing nations, Bangladesh’s Soumya Sarkar is in joint=third place with 13 zeroes and shares the spot with two players from Rwanda besides Thailand’s Chatphaisan.
Though Shanaka failed to tickle the scorers, co-hosts Sri Lanka rode on an unbeaten 56 by wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis and a vital 44 by Kaminduu Mendis to post 163/6 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Ireland in their first match of the 2026 edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Most ducks in T20 Internationals
Ducks Batter Innings Team
16 Dasun Shanaka 113 Sri Lanka
15 Zappy Bimenyimana 62 RWN
14 Paul Stirling 158 Ireland
13 C. Chatphaisan 52 THA
13 K Irakoze 56 RWN
13 M Akayezu 79 RWN
13 Soumya Sarkar 86 Bangladesh
Compiled by Manoj Kumar
–IANS
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