Taking a wicket on the very first ball of an international cricket career is a big achievement for any bowler in the world. So far only 29 bowlers have made a unique record of taking wickets in the first ball of their career in ODIs.
For the first time in ODI cricket, the record of taking a wicket on the very first ball of his career was set by Geoff Arnold of England against Australia in 1972. India played its first one-day international match in 1974 and since then 231 cricketers have played ODI matches for India, but only two bowlers have surprised everyone by taking wickets on the very first ball of their career.
Today in this article, we take a look at all those 2 Indian bowlers who have taken a wicket in their very first ball of their ODI career.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Indian team’s leading fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Chennai on the 30th of December in 2012 and surprised everyone by dismissing Mohammad Hafeez off the very first ball of his ODI career.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has so far played 114 One Day Internationals for India, in which he has taken 132 wickets and holds the record of taking four wickets in an innings and taking five wickets in an innings on four occasions each.
Sadagopan Ramesh
Former Indian team opener Sadagopan Ramesh made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in March 1999, but he got the opportunity to bowl for the first time in September 1999 against West Indies in Singapore.
Ramesh dismissed West Indies’ Nixon McLean on his very first ball and also became the first Indian bowler to take a wicket in ODIs on the first ball. It is worth noting that this wicket was also the only wicket of Ramesh’s ODI career.
While the above mentioned are both the Indian bowlers, Sri Lanka’s Maheesh Theekshana currently is the latest bowler to take a wicket in their very ball of their ODI career, which he did against South Africa in 2021.
