The very first time this feat, a first-ball dismissal, had been accomplished, was more than a 100 years ago when Arthur Conningham of Australia had England's Archie MacLaren caught off the first ball of the 1894-95 Melbourne Test. Interestingly, Conningham was bowling his first ball in Test cricket.
Out of the 23 known instances of a batsman getting out to the first ball of a Test, India holds the lion's share. Indian batsmen suffered this fate on no less than six occasions. England come next with four such instances, followed by South Africa and West Indies (three each), Australia and Bangladesh (twice each).
New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have one such instance each. From the bowling side's perspective, West Indian bowlers have accounted for most first ball match dismissals- six, followed by Australia (four), England, India and New Zealand (thrice each), South Africa and Pakistan (two each).
Hannan Sarkar was infact getting out in this peculiar fashion for the second time in his career. In December 2002 also he was dismissed first ball - against the same opponent and off the same bowler. Only ground and mode of dismissal were different. Sarkar thus became only the second batsman in Test chronicles to suffer this ignominy on more than one occasion.
But it is India's Sunil Gavaskar, who still is the only batsman to have the honour of getting out to the first ball of a Test match, thrice.
Pedro Collins, on the other hand, now joins New Zealand's Richard Hadlee, England's Geoff Arnold and India's Kapil Dev, to have inflicted dismissals off the very first ball of the match on more than one occasion.
Here-under given is a list of batsmen who were dismissed off the first ball of a Test match:
| Batsman | Countries | Venue | Season | Bowler |
| AC MacLaren | Eng v Aus | Melbourne | 1894-95 | A Conningham |
| TW Hayward | Eng v SA | Oval | 1907 | AEE Vogler |
| W Bardsley | Aus v Eng | Leeds | 1926 | MW Tate |
| H Sutcliffe | Eng v NZ | Christchurch | 1932-33 | FT Badcock |
| TS Worthington | Eng v Aus | Brisbane | 1936-37 | EL McCormick |
| CC Hunte | WI v Pak | Port-of-Spain | 1957-58 | Fazal Mahmood |
| EJ Barlow | SA v Aus | Durban | 1966-67 | GD McKenzie |
| RC Fredricks | WI v Ind | Port-of-Spain | 1970-71 | S Abid Ali |
| KR Stackpole | Aus v NZ | Auckland | 1973-74 | RJ Hadlee |
| SM Gavaskar | Ind v Eng | Birmingham | 1974 | GG Arnold |
| SS Naik | Ind v WI | Calcutta | 1974-75 | AME Roberts |
| JFM Morrison | NZ v Eng | Christchurch | 1974-75 | GG Arnold |
| Mohsin Khan | Pak v Ind | Jullundar | 1983-84 | Kapil Dev |
| SM Gavaskar | Ind v WI | Calcutta | 1983-84 | MD Marshall |
| SM Gavaskar | Ind v Pak | Jaipur | 1986-87 | Imran Khan |
| WV Raman | Ind v NZ | Napier | 1989-90 | RJ Hadlee |
| SJ Cook | SA v Ind | Durban | 1992-93 | Kapil Dev |
| G Kirsten | SA v WI | Cape Town | 1998-99 | CEL Ambrose |
| ST Jayasuriya | SL v Aus | Galle | 1999-00 | GD McGrath |
| LV Garrick | WI v SA | Kingston | 2000-01 | AA Donald |
| SS Das | Ind v WI | Bridgetown | 2001-02 | M Dillon |
| Hannan Sarkar | BD v WI | Dhaka | 2002-03 | PT Collins |
| Hannan Sarkar | BD v WI | Gros Islet | 2003-04 | PT Collins |
