Curse of zero: How Abhishek Sharma, Agarkar, Amarnath faced cricket's loneliest walk

A deafening roar went up from the capacity crowd at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad when Abhishek Sharma smashed a boundary off the last ball of the first over, bowled by Aiden Markram, in the first Super Eights match played by the hosts. It was the first ball Abhishek faced in this game, but that was not the reason for the wild celebration.

The crowd was ecstatic as this was his first scoring shot in the championship, coming after a series of three zeroes in as many matches in the league phase. Abhishek had started the tournament as the world's no. 1 batsman in the T20 version of the game, but suddenly found himself unable to get the ball off the square and score even a single run in matches against the USA, Pakistan and the Netherlands.

This episode brought up a question as to why some accomplished batsmen suddenly look so woefully out of form that they are unable to even get the bat to make contact with the ball. Why is it that batsmen who used to cart bowlers to all parts of the ground find it difficult, all of a sudden, even to scratch a single?

How is it that cricketers who have risen through the ranks on the strength of their technique, temperament, courage, consistency and resilience appear so completely ignorant of the very basics of the game that made them heroes in the eyes of millions of followers? These questions warrant a detailed discussion.

Batting is an intensely lonely act, where the person holding the willow in hand faces the combined might of the opposition. In addition to the bowler sending down the red cherry, there are the wicket keeper and nine fielders plotting the downfall of the batsman, by means fair and foul.

The important elements that form part of a successful batsman's repertoire are confidence, intense concentration, a wide array of strokes and splendid hand-eye coordination. In a game where contests take place as much on the field as inside the mind, confidence in one’s own abilities to tackle the bowlers is the critical element that decides the success or otherwise of a batsman.

It is in this context that the first run becomes important. A new batsman walks to the middle either at the fall of a wicket or at the start of a fresh innings. In both instances, the bowling side will be raring to go and can be expected to mount pressure on the batsman. Further, the long walk to the crease with the stress-induced knot in the stomach invariably creates a defensive mindset, except in a minuscule minority. This is the reason why most batsmen are keen to get off the mark in the shortest possible time after taking guard. Moreover, the first run and the jog between the wickets invariably increases the comfort factor of the batsman and places him in a better frame of mind to take on the bowlers.

In his autobiography "Sunny Days", Sunil Gavaskar has written in detail about his first run in Test cricket, where the ball sent down by Vanburn Holder brushed his leg guard without touching the bat. Still, the umpire failed to signal a leg bye after the batsmen crossed over and made good their ground at the opposite ends. That a cricketer who scored more than 10,000 runs in Test cricket should remember his first run so vividly as to write about it in his autobiography shows the importance that batsmen associate with this act.

The biggest ignominy for a batsman is to return to the dressing room without troubling the scorers. Though everyone acknowledges the fact that even the best of batsmen get dismissed without opening their account, this is a fate that all willow wielders are keen to avoid. The fact that Virat Kohli, easily the most accomplished Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, has been dismissed for zero no less than 40 times in international cricket shows that even a player who has scored more than 28,000 runs at the highest level can fall victim to this malady.

Hence, the occasional instance when an accomplished batsman gets dismissed for a "duck" should not worry anyone, as this is a normal aspect of cricket and only exemplifies the reputation of this game as being a great leveller.

Statistics show that the dubious record for the most consecutive scores of zero in international cricket is held by three players: Bob Holland of Australia, Ajit Agarkar of India, and Mohamed Asif of Pakistan. Agarkar endured batting horrors during the tour of Australia in 1999-2000, where, after making 19 in the first innings of the first Test at Adelaide, he could not open his account in the second innings or in the two tests that followed. The banner held aloft by some spectators lampooning him using the words "Bombay Duck" told the full story of the misery he went through. But Agarkar had the last laugh when, in his next visit to Australia in 2003-04, he not only batted well but also scripted the defeat of the hosts in the second Test by taking 6 wickets for 41 runs in the second innings.

Incidentally, Agarkar is one of the few Indians who have their names inscribed in the Honours list at Lord's for having scored a century on this hallowed turf in Test cricket, an accomplishment which neither Tendulkar nor Gavaskar can lay claim to!

The cricketer who experienced the most bizarre series of "ducks" in test cricket is undoubtedly Mohinder Amarnath, the champion performer during 1970s and 80s. Mohinder made a comeback to the national side in 1982, after a three-year gap. In the tours to Pakistan and the West Indies in 1982-83, Mohinder scored more than 1000 runs against the best bowling attacks in the world. After this, he played a crucial role with both bat and ball in guiding India to victory in the 1983 World Cup. His batting against the fearsome speedsters of West Indies and Pakistan in conditions that favoured them was so exquisite that both Imran Khan and Viv Richards stated in unison that he was the best batsman in the world against fast bowling.

However, things changed dramatically when the 1983 cricket season began in India. Mohinder played only in one Test against the visiting Pakistanis, citing some illness. But he was back in the side when the series began against the West Indies and played in three tests. But he could score just one run in his six outings to the middle. He was dismissed for a duck in both innings of the tests at Kanpur and Kolkata, while he scratched a single in the first innings of the Delhi test, but was dismissed for zero in the second knock. No one could understand what went so horribly wrong for this lionhearted cricketer, who had served the country so well on two extremely difficult tours during the previous season.

When the cricket season started in the winter of 1984, Mohinder was not among the probables under consideration for a place in the national side. He was included in the team to tour Pakistan at the insistence of Gavaskar, who was leading the side. Mohinder justified his inclusion by scoring a century in the first Test of the series in Pakistan and did not look back after that. In his autobiography, Mohinder does not give a clear picture of what went wrong with his batting during this phase, except to say he felt very tired and was not in the proper frame of mind to play.

For the record, Abhishek could not convert his good start against South Africa as he holed out to deep mid-on, where Corbin Bosch took a superb tumbling catch to dismiss him off the bowling of Marco Jansen for 15 runs. His inability to come good with a big score is one of the reasons for the patchy batting performances by the Indian side in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup, currently underway in India. In the league stage, the overall superiority of the hosts and a couple of exceptional individual performances helped them to get the better of other sides. However, there was no space to hide such deficiencies when confronted with the might of South Africa and the side went down tamely by a margin of 76 runs.

This defeat should serve as a wake-up call for the team and push them to try new game plans and strategies as the championship enters the business phase. It will be extremely disappointing for fans to see the national side knocked out of a World Cup championship held at home without reaching the last four, especially after starting as favourites. Abhishek Sharma's poor form is only a symptom of the deeper malaise that appears to have afflicted the side; the sooner it is diagnosed and treated by the team management, the better it will be for the entire nation.