Australian cricketer Ashton Turner became the first batsman in Twenty20 history to make five consecutive ducks as he was dismissed off the first ball he faced against Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Monday in the Indian Premier League.
This was Turner’s third successive IPL golden duck, which means for the third consecutive time the 26-year-old was dismissed off the first he faced in a match in the IPL..
But, Turner is not the first player to bag three consecutive first-ball duck in the IPL. Shardul Thakur had emulated the feat in 2017 season of the IPL.
Turner’s misery with the bat in T20s began during the Big Bash League in February. After a first-ball duck in the Big Bash, he followed it up with a five-ball naught against India. In the IPL, playing his third match, Turner scored his first golden ducks against Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians, before repeating the same against Delhi Capitals.
In between the IPL and his international stint, Turner had scored an unbeaten 84 in an ODI against India at Mohali to help Australia successfully chase down 360. With that match-winning knock of 84, not only Australia levelled the five-match ODI series against India, eventually they went on to win the series 3-2.
In his first match of the IPL against Kings XI Punjab, Turner replaced Liam Livingstone in Royals’ squad. With his team needing 55 off 18 balls, Turner was caught in the deep off leg-break bowler Murugan Ashwin. Royals, chasing 183 for victory, ended up losing the match by 12 runs.
In his second match, Turner walked in against Mumbai Indians with his side needing only 15 runs off 16 balls but he was trapped LBW by Bumrah.
On Monday, Royals were 157 for three with 25 balls left in the innings when Turner came in to bat, but as luck would have it, Turner scooped a slower delivery outside off-stump to cover off Ishant Sharma.
With the Royals languishing at the bottom half of the table with only five matches to go, it is high-time for Turner to mend his ways and justify his price tag.
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