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.
The name originates from the two noughts together being thought to resemble a pair of spectacles; the longer form is occasionally used.
Most pairs in a Test career
New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin has been dismissed without scoring in both innings during seven Test matches, three more than any other player. Five players have been dismissed for four pairs of ducks in Tests. Four are bowlers with no great pretensions towards batsmanship – Bhagwat Chandrasekhar of India, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and West Indians Mervyn Dillon and Courtney Walsh – but the fifth is top order batsman Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka. He started his Test career with just one run in six innings – including two pairs – and has bagged two more since.
Pairs on Test debut
45 batsmen have been dismissed for a pair on their debut in Test cricket: Fred Grace for England v Australia at The Oval in London 1880 Clarence Wimble for South Africa v England at Cape Town in 1891/92 Joseph Willoughby for South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth in 1895/96 Johannes Kotze for South Africa v Australia in Johannesburg in 1902/03 Percy Twentyman-Jones for South Africa v Australia in Cape Town in 1902/03 Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia in Manchester in 1912 Percy Lewis for South Africa v England in Durban in 1913/14 Cecil Dixon for South Africa v England in Johannesburg in 1913/14 Ted Badcock for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30 Ken James for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30 Jim Smith for England v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1934/35 Gordon Rowe for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46 Len Butterfield for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46 Cuan McCarthy for South Africa v England in Durban in 1948 Alf Valentine for the West Indies v England in Manchester in 1950 Ram Ramchand for India v England at Headingley in Leeds in 1952 Graham Gooch for England v Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham in 1975 Brendon Bracewell for New Zealand v England at Lord's in 1978 Mike Whitney for Australia v England in Manchester in 1981 Maninder Singh for India v Pakistan in Karachi in 1982/83 Ken Rutherford for New Zealand v West Indies at Port of Spain in 1984/85 Chris Kuggeleijn for New Zealand v India in Bangalore in 1988/89 Rashid Patel for India v New Zealand in Bombay in 1988/89 Marvan Atapattu for Sri Lanka v India in Chandigarh in 1990/91 Saeed Anwar for Pakistan v West Indies in Faisalabad in 1990/91 Allan Donald for South Africa v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1991/92 Stephen Peall for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Karachi in 1993/94 Peter McIntyre for Australia v England at the Adelaide Oval in 1994/95 Dirk Viljoen for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Bulawayo in 1997/98 Gavin Hamilton for England v South Africa in Johannesburg in 1999/00 James Franklin for New Zealand v Pakistan in Auckland in 2000/01 Alamgir Kabir for Bangladesh v Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2002/03 Hasantha Fernando for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Johannesburg in 2002/03 Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka v Australia in Darwin in 2003/04 Chamara Silva for Sri Lanka v New Zealand in Christchurch in 2006/07 Chris Tremlett for England v India at Lord's in 2007 Mark Gillespie for New Zealand v South Africa at Centurion in 2007/08 Dean Elgar for South Africa v Australia at Perth in 2012/13 Natsai M'shangwe for Zimbabwe v Bangladesh at Khulna in 2014 Rajendra Chandrika for West Indies v Australia at Sabina Park in 2015 Alzarri Joseph for West Indies v India in St Lucia in 2016 Kamrul Islam Rabbi for Bangladesh v England in Chittagong in 2016 Chadd Sayers for Australia v South Africa in Johannesburg in 2018 Andrew Balbirnie for Ireland v Pakistan in Malahide in 2018 Abdul Malik for Afghanistan v Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi in 2021
Consecutive pairs
These batsmen all bagged pairs in two Tests in a row. Bobby Peel (England, 1894–95) Bob Crisp (South Africa, 1935–36) Wayne Clark (Australia, 1977–78) Pat Pocock (England, 1984) Bob Holland (Australia, 1985/1985-86) Mark Waugh (Australia, 1992–93) Glenn McGrath (Australia, 1998–99) Ajit Agarkar (India, 1999–2000) Merv Dillon (West Indies, 1998-99/2000–01) Dinanath Ramnarine (West Indies, 2001–02) Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan, 2005/2005–06) Nuwan Pradeep (Sri Lanka, 2017–18) Khaled Ahmed (Bangladesh, 2021−22)