On December 6, during the first day of play in the Pink-ball Test match against Australia in Adelaide, India’s top bowler Jasprit Bumrah celebrated his 31st birthday. The visitors chose to bat first after winning the toss to start the match. Before KL Rahul and Shubman Gill’s 69-run partnership stabilised the swaying ship, the visitors lost Yashasvi Jaiswal on the opening ball.
However, by the conclusion of the first innings, the powerful Indians were in ruins thanks to a masterful bowling spell by speedster Mitchell Starc. India dropped from 141/8 to 81/5 when Bumrah came out to bat at number 10. At first glance, the young Nitish Kumar Reddy was being complemented by the right-arm bowler from one end as they stitched a 35-run partnership.
But Jasprit Bumrah edged a full-length delivery from captain Pat Cummins to Usman Khawaja at first slip after facing seven deliveries.
The Ahmedabad native became just the fourth Indian to record a duck in Test cricket on his birthday as he returned with a scoreboard that read 176/9.
In the 1978 Kolkata Test match against the West Indies on his 29th birthday, former wicketkeeper-batter Syed Kirmani became the first Indian player to record a duck on his birthday. On his 27th birthday, Venkatapathy Raju scored a Test duck in England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham during the 1996 tour.
Prior to Bumrah, Ishant Sharma scored a duck on his birthday during the 2018 tour in the Southampton Test against England. The umpire called him out after Ben Stokes’ sloppy delivery hit the lanky bowler on the pads.
Indian players to get a duck on their birthday in Tests
| Player | Test Match |
| Syed Kirmani | India vs West Indies, Kolkata (1978) |
| Venkatapathy Raju | England vs India, Nottingham (1996) |
| Ishant Sharma | England vs India, Southampton (2018) |
| Jasprit Bumrah | Australia vs India, Adelaide (2024) |
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