Chennai Super Kings’ decision to hand 27-year-old left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh his maiden Indian Premier League appearance paid off instantly as the Tamil Nadu quick dismissed Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel with the very first ball of his first over at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Replacing Matt Henry in the XI, Gurjapneet produced a short-of-length delivery outside off that tempted Axar into a cut shot, only for Sarfaraz Khan to complete the catch cleanly.

 

Axar’s stay lasted just two deliveries for a single run, and the dismissal further strengthened Chennai’s grip on the contest. More significantly, the breakthrough placed Gurjapneet in an exclusive IPL club of bowlers who have taken a wicket with the first ball of their debut match — a list that now stands at 11 names.

 

The wicket also carried an understated irony: on a night when Delhi needed calm from its captain in a steep chase, the first ball from a debutant instead added another line to IPL trivia.

 

Debut entry joins elite IPL history

 

The first cricketer to achieve the feat was Ishant Sharma, who struck in the 2008 season opener for Kolkata Knight Riders by dismissing Rahul Dravid of Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

 

Before Gurjapneet, the most notable recent instance came from Matheesha Pathirana, who achieved the same mark for Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans at Wankhede Stadium on May 15, 2022.

 

For Gurjapneet, the numbers were brief but impactful: one ball, one wicket, and instant entry into a statistical bracket that rarely expands. In a league built on noise, the debutant needed just a single delivery to let the scorecard do the talking.

 

Bowlers with wicket in first ball of debut match

 

Blower	Team	Victim	Opponent	Venue	Date
Ishant Sharma	Kolkata Knight Riders	Rahul Dravid	Royal Challengers Bengaluru	Bengaluru	April 18, 2008
Wilkin Mota*	Punjab Kings	Suresh Raina	Chennai Super Kings	Mohali	April 19, 2008
Shane Harwood	Rajasthan Royals	Azhar Bilakhia	Deccan Chargers	Port Elizabeth	May 2, 2009
Amit Singh	Rajasthan Royals	Sunny Sohal	Punjab Kings	Durban	May 5, 2009
Charl Langeveldt	Kolkata Knight Riders	Rob Quiney	Rajasthan Royals	Durban	May 20, 2009
Ali Murtaza	Mumbai Indians	Naman Ojha	Rajasthan Royals	Mumbai (BS)	March 13, 2010
TP Sudhindra	Deccan Chargers	Faf du Plessis	Chennai Super Kings	Visakhapatnam	April 7, 2012
Alzarri Joseph	Mumbai Indians	David Warner	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Hyderabad	April 6, 2019
Matheesha Pathirana	Chennai Super Kings	Shubman Gill	Gujarat Titans	Mumbai (WS)	May 15, 2022
Ashwani Kumar	Mumbai Indians	Ajinkya Rahane	Kolkata Knight Riders	Mumbai (WS)	March 31, 2025
Gurjapneet Singh	Chennai Super Kings	Axar Patel	Delhi Capitals	Chennai	April 11, 2026