Trent Boult has gone on to become one of the greatest fast bowlers in New Zealand and all over the globe, during his cricketing career. With a total of 611 wickets from 253 matches, Boult is the third-highest wicket-taker across all formats for the Black Caps.
Born on July 22, 1989 in Rotorua, Boult first came into prominence in the International Cricket Council’s U19 World Cup 2008 held in Malaysia picking up 11 wickets from five matches and helping the Kiwis reach the semi-finals of the competition.
Boult, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, first played for the New Zealand senior team in 2011. Since then, he has spearheaded the pace attack of one of the most consistent international outfits across formats with one title (World Test Championship), four final and two semi-final appearances in ICC events.
Boult has immense experience in the shortest format of the game having picked up 186 wickets from 169 games in T20 leagues across the world. His services were acquired by the Royals in the mega auction before IPL 2022.
Since then Boult has been an outstanding performer for the Royals with 45 wickets from 41 innings in the IPL. He averages 27.71 with the ball and has a strike rate of 20.44. The speedster played a pivotal role in the Royals reaching the playoffs in two seasons out of the last three.
Apart from Boult’s numbers, what has stood out is his consistency in providing breakthroughs in the powerplay, especially in the first over of the innings with 19 of his 45 scalps for the Royals coming in the first over, a whopping 42 per cent.
The Royals’ pacer has recorded a double-strike in the first over on four occasions and the team has won each one of those matches. On Boult’s 35th birthday here is a look at some of his memorable first overs for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
Rajasthan Royals vs Lucknow Super Giants, IPL 2022
In just his fourth match for the Royals, in IPL 2022, Boult spit fire against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium. LSG were slightly ahead having restricted the Royals to 165/6 at the high-scoring venue.
But Boult struck with the first ball of the innings, castling LSG skipper KL Rahul to bring the Royals back into the game. He caught Krishnappa Goutham in front, off the next ball, as LSG were two down with just one run on the board.
That double blow in the first over proved to be the difference as the Royals won a close game by just three runs. Boult finished with figures of 2/30 from four overs.
Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2023
It was a perfect start to the IPL 2023 season for the Royals against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Batting first, the Royals made 203/5 on the back of half-centuries from top-three batters Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson.
Boult once again displayed his prowess with the new ball, cleaning up Abhishek Sharma off the third ball of the innings. A ball later, he dismissed Rahul Tripathi and the Sunrisers were in deep trouble at 0/2 chasing a huge total.
The home team never recovered from Boult’s double-wicket maiden as the Royals won the game by a huge margin of 72 runs. The southpaw finished with impressive figures of 2/21 in four overs.
Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals, IPL 2023
Just six days after his exploits against SRH, Boult produced another magnificent spell upfront against Delhi Capitals at the Assam Cricket Association Stadium in Guwahati in 2023. The Royals set a target of 200 for the Capitals after Jaiswal and Buttler scored quickfire fifties.
Boult was on the money again with wickets off the third and fourth ball of the Capitals’ chase. First, it was Prithvi Shaw, who departed for a three-ball duck with the Royals skipper Sanju Samson getting him behind the wicket.
On the very next ball, Boult got the better of Manish Pandey, trapping him in front of the wicket. The pacer came back to clean up Lalit Yadav in his second spell to break any sort of resistance from the Capitals’ unit.
Boult finished with exceptional figures of 3/29, including a first-over maiden, as the Royals pocketed the contest by 57 runs.
Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2024
The last of his two-wicket first-over burst came against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2024. Boult vindicated skipper Sanju Samson’s decision to bowl first dismissing MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir off consecutive deliveries in the first over.
While Rohit was caught by Samson off an away swinging delivery, Naman was caught plumb in front with an inswinging beauty as MI reeled at 1/2. Boult got his third of the night when he dismissed Dewald Brevis who was caught by Nandre Burger.
Incidentally, all of Boult’s dismissals were first-ball ducks and Mumbai could manage only 125/9 in their batting essay. Riyan Parag anchored the chase with an unbeaten half-century to guide the Royals to a six-wicket win.
Boult was adjudged the Player of the Match for his match-winning spell of 3/22.
