Suryakumar Yadav makes embarrassing cricket history in India loss to Australia
Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for three consecutive golden ducks. Image: Getty
Australia salvaged a consolation prize from their tour of India and wrapped up a 2-1 win in the ODI series thanks to a 21-run win in Chennai. One man who will be happy to see the Australians’ back-rowers is Suryakumar Yadav, whose dismissal at the hands of Ashton Agar was an embarrassing feat for the 32-year-old batsman.
India triumphed in the Test series before the ODIs began – and the ODIs started poorly for Yadav with a golden duck in the first match courtesy of a Mitch Starc lbw. It was deja vu in game two for Yadav, once again dispatched with his first delivery, thanks to Starc trapping him in front.
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In the third and final game, Yadav was again out for a golden duck – but this time after Agar clean bowled him, with the wicket coming at a crucial moment for Australia. Earlier, Virat Kohli was dismissed one ball for 54, ending a productive partnership with Hardik Pandya (40), which had the potential to be a match-winner.
It was a brutal return with the bat for Yadav, who failed to fire in his Test debut in Nagpur and scored just eight runs in India’s first innings. He did not get another opportunity at the wicket in this match after Australia collapsed in their second innings to lose the Test in three days.
Boasting the unfortunate record of being the first Indian batsman to register three golden ducks in a row in ODI cricket is unlikely to boost Yadav’s stock. The last player in international cricket to record the accident was Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani in 2021.
The last Australian player to score three consecutive golden ducks was Shane Watson, back in 2009. However, he is not the only Australian player on the list, with Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds also making an appearance.
India lost their last eight wickets for 101 runs, taking 6-79 in a devastating spell. Zampa was named man of the match after taking the wickets of Shubman Gill (37), KL Rahul (32), Pandya (40) and Ravindra Jadeja (18) as the Aussies won by 21 runs and a series victory of 2-1 secured.
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In doing so, they leapfrogged India and regained the world’s No. 1 ranking in ODIs. “It’s always nice to bowl with Zamps,” Agar said after the match. “We’re good mates. We have a really good time out there.
“We usually have a whiskey in his room most nights and discuss how we’re going to go about it. It paid off for us today.”
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Kohli was all set to lead India to victory but his soft dismissal to Agar’s bowling was a critical moment of the match as he took out David Warner in the deep. Agar cleaned up Yadav on the very next delivery, while Rahul, Pandya and Jadeja were all dismissed with extended strokes.
“Ashton Agar, he changed the game,” Zampa said afterwards. “I don’t feel I deserve this (man of the match) to be honest with you. For me to be able to do what I did at the end, it’s credit to the guys who bowled before me.”
Ashton Agar picked up two key wickets as Australia won the ODI series against India. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Indian captain Rohit Sharma said his batsmen could not continue after he started to “take the game deep”. He added: “All of us tried our best to go out and achieve it, but it just didn’t happen. Of course, a loss like this really hurts. But again, we can understand what we need to do better as a team, as a team. group.”
Fans were highly critical of India’s batting performance on social media. A number of soft dismissals have come under heavy scrutiny, with some labeling the hosts’ collapse as ‘appalling’ and ‘appalling’.
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