Gilchrist, who was trapped first ball by Albie Morkel when Deccan Chargers played Chennai, says, “You will have to give the bowlers some credit in a game dominated by the batsmen. There is swing early on in the innings and it pays to get it on target straightaway. Albie bowled a good first ball full and deserved the wicket.”

Among the teams, Bangalore Royal Challengers batsmen seemed to have shown less patience, scoring the maximum ducks — 15. Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, have been more cautious and have the least — seven.

Former leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishan blames it on the nature of Twenty20 cricket, with the batsmen under pressure to hit every ball. “In Twenty20, there’s no scope for a batsman to take time and he is always in a hurry to hit irrespective of the ball’s merit. So the margin of error is huge and that’s only one of the reasons why we have seen so many ducks in the tournament.”

In that list of zeroes, most are by top-order batsmen looking to cash in on the power play or those who are batting in the death overs.

Chaminda Vaas explains it from a bowler’s point of view. “Till a certain time in my career, I used to warm up gradually in my first over but Dennis Lillee told me the importance of hitting the right area with the first ball and the impact I can create with it in the batsman’s mind,” he says.