Maiden over is the art of denying a batsman from scoring a run in six balls bowled in an over. In T20s, bowling six consecutive dot balls in an over is equal to picking up a wicket, while it is very common in ODIs and Test matches.
What is it?
It is one of the most effective ways to pressurize batters, forcing them to take risks. In Modern-day cricket, especially in white-ball formats, bowlers struggle to dictate terms to batters. Also, with many teams adopting an attacking batting approach in red-ball cricket, bowlers face a stern challenge to keep batters at bay. Here is the list of most maidens for each format.
- Tests – Muttiah Muralitharan (1,792)
- ODIs – Shaun Pollock (313)
- T20Is – Frank Nsubuga (13)
Maiden Over in Cricket – Bedi & Simmons
Legendary spinner Bishen Singh Bedi and former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons have bowled the most zero-run overs in a match. Bedi bowled eight and took one wicket against East Africa in the 1975 World Cup. Meanwhile, Simmons, too, delivered the same number of maiden overs but picked up four wickets. It was also the second-most economical spell in one-day internationals – 0.30.
It is worth mentioning former Indian left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi’s incredible performance in Nairobi. In 1999, Joshi picked up a five-wicket and conceded six runs in ten overs against a South Africa side, which had Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Hansie Cronje, and Lance Klusener. He bowled six zero-run overs in the match.
Muttiah Muralitharan has bowled the most maiden overs in Test cricket. The spin wizard completed 1792, while his Australian counterpart Shane Warne also bowled over 1700 in Test cricket. Legendary Anil Kumble has close to 1600 zero-run overs.
Super Over Maiden, IPL Maidens, Wicket Maiden
A zero-run over in a T20 match is remarkable for the bowler. Praveen Kumar holds the record for bowling the most zero-run overs in IPL. He has bowled 14 zero-run overs in his ten-year IPL career. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Irfan Pathan are the two other bowlers with a double-digit tally. Former fast bowler Glenn McGrath was the first player to bowl six successive dot balls in an over.
Super over is the tiebreaker in the 20-over format. In 2014, Sunil Narine became the first player to bowl a maiden in the super over. Chasing 13 runs in the one-over affair, the Red Steel batter Nicholas Pooran failed to score a run off Narine and was dismissed in the fifth ball. The final delivery, too, ended up as a dot ball.
A wicket-maiden is when a bowler bowls six dot balls and grabs a wicket too. There have been plenty of instances, across all three formats and T20 cricket, when a bowler has taken a two-wicket and triple-wicket maiden. In IPL, Jaydev Unadkat and Umran Malik are the only two bowlers who have taken three wickets and bowled six successive dot balls in the last over of an IPL innings.
Maidens in T20Is
Frank Nsubuga has bowled the most zero-run overs in T20Is. The 42-year-old left-arm spinner, who made his international debut in 2019, completed 13 zero-run overs. Two Indian bowlers occupy the second and third spots. Bhuvneshwar, the first Indian to bowl consecutive zero-run overs, has bowled ten, while Jasprit Bumrah has nine.
Extras
A bowler is penalized for bowling an illegal delivery – wide and no-ball. The penalized run is added to the opponent team’s score and bowler’s figures too. When a bowler bowls a wide or no-ball, and if the batsman hasn’t scored a run off the bat, the bowler won’t get the maiden. However, if the extras are byes and leg byes, it is considered zero-run over.
Read about Most Catches in IPL.
Frequently Asked Questions
Against whom did Bhuvneswar Kumar bowl two consecutive maidens?
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled two consecutive maidens against the Netherlands in T20 World Cup 2022.
Who bowled the most maidens in the IPL 2022 season?
Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna bowled the most maidens in IPL 2022. Both bowlers bowled three each.
Who bowled the first-ever Super Over maiden?
Sunil Narine bowled the first-ever maiden in the Super over in the Caribbean Premier League in 2014.
