King Pair
King pairs in Test cricket: A pair in cricket refers to when a batsman is dismissed for a duck (without scoring) in both innings. It is called a ‘king pair‘ if the batsman gets out for a golden duck [getting out on the first ball he faced] in both innings.
List of King Pair in Test Cricket
Explained-What Is A King Pair in Test Cricket: If a batsman is out first ball he has made a golden duck and if a batsman is dismissed first ball in both innings he has achieved a king pair. This worst of all batting fates has befallen 22 players in the history of Test cricket so far.
How many batters have bagged king pairs in Tests?
Probably the most notable king pair in Tests was bagged by the South African wicket keeper Tommy Ward,
- William Attewell for England v Australia at Sydney in 1891–92
- Ernie Hayes for England v South Africa at Cape Town in 1905-06
- Bert Vogler for South Africa v Australia at Sydney in 1910–11
- Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia at Old Trafford in 1912. Tommy Ward was dismissed in each innings by Jimmy Matthews. Uniquely, both times he came in to bat after two batsmen had been dismissed, giving Matthews a hat-trick in each innings.
- Robert Crisp for South Africa at Kingsmead in 1935-36
- Ian Colquhoun for New Zealand v England at Eden Park in 1954–55, twice giving Bob Appleyard a hat-trick opportunity which was denied by Alex Moir each time; the second innings was part of New Zealand’s 26 all out which is the lowest team score in a Test match.
- Colin Wesley for South Africa v England at Trent Bridge in 1960
- Bhagwat Chandrasekhar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1977–78
- Gary Troup for New Zealand v India at Wellington in 1980–81
- Dave Richardson for South Africa v Pakistan at Johannesburg in 1994–95
- Adam Huckle for Zimbabwe v Pakistan at Harare in 1997–98
- Ajit Agarkar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1999–2000
- Adam Gilchrist for Australia v India at Kolkata in 2000–01
- Javed Omar for Bangladesh v India at Dhaka in 2007
- Ryan Harris for Australia v England at Adelaide in December 2010
- Virender Sehwag for India v England at Edgbaston in August 2011
- Rangana Herath for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Sharjah in January 2014
- Dhammika Prasad for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Pallekele in June 2015
- James Anderson for England v India at Vishakhapatnam in November 2016
- Nuwan Pradeep for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in September 2017
- Nurul Hasan for Bangladesh v West Indies at Kingston in July 2018
- Sam Curran for England v India at Lords in August 2021
In the 2,387 Test matches played to date, there have been just 21 king pairs.
Why Sam Curran Called “King Pair”?
India won the Test match by 151 runs by bowling out England for 120 in the second innings. In the meantime, Sam Curran bagged a King pair after bagging the wicket of Virat Kohli during India’s second innings. Curran was dismissed in the first innings by Ishant Sharma as he got him caught in the slips.
