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Taking a wicket on the first ball of an ODI match is considered a very difficult and special achievement for any bowler. Many fast bowlers have achieved this feat in Indian cricket, but when it comes to taking the most wickets on the first ball, Zaheer Khan’s record still stands at the top. For India, he did the feat of taking a wicket on the first ball of an ODI match on four different occasions. Last time this feat was done by Mohammad Siraj among Indians.
Taking a wicket on the very first ball of an ODI match is considered very rare. So far only four bowlers from India have been able to achieve this feat and the foremost among them is former fast bowler Zaheer Khan. Zaheer Khan took wicket on the first ball of an ODI match four times in his career. He is the only bowler from India to achieve this feat.
He made his debut on 20 July 2001 against New Zealand at R.K., Colombo. Matthew Sinclair was dismissed on the very first ball at Premadasa Stadium. After this, on 30 September 2002, Sri Lanka’s explosive opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya was dismissed without opening his account on the same ground.
For the third time, on 17 October 2007, Zaheer sent Australia’s Michael Clarke to the pavilion with the first ball at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. His fourth and last such wicket came on 27 December 2009 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, when he dismissed Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga on the very first ball. No other bowler in Indian cricket has been able to match this record.
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The first bowler for India to take a wicket on the first ball of ODI was Debashish Mohanty. On 5 September 1999, he dismissed West Indies wicketkeeper batsman Ridley Jacobs on the very first ball at Kallang Ground in Singapore. With this he started this unique record in Indian cricket.
Praveen Kumar, who troubled the batsmen with his swing, also achieved this feat against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on 16 August 2010. He registered his name in this list for India by dismissing Upul Tharanga on the first ball of the innings.
The newest name in this special list is that of Mohammad Siraj. He died on 4 August 2024 at R. Colombo, Colombo. Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka was dismissed on the very first ball at the Premadasa Stadium. Siraj got his name included in this special list for India by dodging Nissanka with his fast pace and accurate line-length.
