Duckett’s breezy century flips momentum in England’s favour

After restricting India for 445, England blazed away in reply on the back of Ben Duckett’s fantastic ton that saw them wipe away nearly half of India’s total in quick time.

Duckett, along with Zak Crawley, put on a sixth-fifty plus stand in seven innings in the series as they started their reply on a positive note. India found little off the surface to produce any challenges.

Duckett, in particular, was severe against the spinners and Kuldeep Yadav whom he managed to put away with regular sweeps across the onside. His opening partner remained relatively circumspect but played his role well until he mistimed a sweep off the rough, and became R Ashwin’s 500th Test victim.

That however did not deter Duckett who kept finding the boundaries with relative ease and brought up his 3rd Test ton, off just 88 balls. It became the quickest-ever by an England batter in a Test against India.

Against the run of play, India found a breakthrough as Mohammad Siraj trapped Ollie Pope LBW on review but India were without luck otherwise losing two more reviews against Duckett as he motored along unbeaten till Stumps on the second day. It capped of a good day overall for England, who had started off well.

With the ball, England were able to maintain control with regular strikes and forced India to be in a rebuilding mode almost right through the innings.

First-up, it was James Anderson who struck with a still-fresh new ball, getting it to shape away from Kuldeep Yadav – the nightwatchman – and having him nick behind. The centurion, Ravindra Jadeja, followed suit in the next over when he tried to force Joe Root straight down the ground but ended up presenting a simple return catch to the bowler. Having lost 5/2 in the morning session and slipping to 331/7, India were in danger of being bowled out for a below-par total on a flat pitch.

That worry was negated through a steadfast stand between debutant Dhruv Jurel and R Ashwin who both showed the patience to bat sensibly as the situation demanded. There were boundary opportunities coming their way once in a while with the track still not holding any demons, and it helped the duo push India along steadily.

Jurel was adventurous early on against an aggressive Mark Wood, even upper-cutting him once over the slip cordon but largely played according to the quality of the delivery. He was defiant against a leg side trap set by Wood, while Ashwin played along to a similar tune of being cautiously solid. The duo put on a 77-run stand that carried India beyond 400. But just as they were set to push the total further, Ashwin fell against the run of play, hitting Rehan Ahmed to mid on. Jurel followed suit edging a cut as India stuttered once more. Jsprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj added a 30-run stand to push the total close to 450 before Wood wrapped it up to finish with a four-wicket haul before Duckett made his mark.

Brief Scores:
India 445 (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz Khan 62; Mark Wood 4-114) lead England 207/2 (Ben Duckett 133*) by 238 runs