Getting their ducks in a row

Some Nahid Rana appreciation

Nahid Rana’s duck for Bangladesh in the first innings of their current Test against Sri Lanka at Galle is a reminder of his return to form in the duck department. His first-class batting career has gone as follows: 0, 4*, 3*, 4, then 18 consecutive scoreless innings (six not out), followed by 1* and 0 before an earth-shattering 11 (all off Jasprit Bumrah, of all people). Since then, however, he has seven scoreless innings in his last eight. His 18 scoreless innings was a Bob Beamon-like jump in the world record. Before that, Mark Robinson’s 12 scoreless innings in a row in 1990 had seemed insurmountable, especially in an era that, as we are told, tail-ender batting is supposed to be improving. In all, Nahid Rana has 27 scores of 0 (nine of them not out) in the 33 innings he has played in first-class cricket.

Here is a look at this genre of cricket stats: