The tormented becomes the tormentor
Duckett was a rabbit in the headlights on his last tour of India… now he’s driving hosts to distraction
The contrast could not have been greater from the last time Ben Duckett played Test cricket in India.
Then, eight years ago, he was made to look a complete novice by Ravichandran Ashwin. Now the tormented became the tormentor with a breathtaking unbeaten hundred that made the master off- spinner, and even the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah, look like the beginners.
By the time Duckett had finished sweeping, pulling and driving Ashwin and Co to distraction on the second day of the third Test, england had rattled along at a remarkable rate, mostly of more than six an over, to stand at 207 for two, just 238 behind India’s 445.
It was an extraordinary display from a batsman who was expected to be consigned to Test history when he was dismissed three times by Ashwin for just 18 runs in the 2016-17 series, 13 of them coming here in the drawn first Test before england went on to lose heavily.
Nothing summed up the reversal in fortunes more than the six and four Duckett slog swept off Ashwin in successive balls.
What a difference a change of mentality can make. Duckett is now playing his natural attacking game against spin and seam alike, rather than going into his shell and seemingly being despatched for good after his first tour as an england middle-order player.
And what a call it was by Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and Rob Key to pluck Duckett out of county red- ball obscurity and make him Zak Crawley’s partner at the end of the first Bazball summer when they decided Alex Lees was not the opener for them.
This was Duckett’s third century since that inspired selection in 2022 — and his best. Two Tests ago, we were hailing Ollie Pope for one of the great hundreds by an england batsman overseas and now we saw the quickest by any englishman in India. When Duckett came sprinting out of the traps, it even seemed Gilbert Jessop’s fabled quickest century by an england batsman — off 76 balls in 1902 — was under threat.
That was not to be, even though Duckett raced to 50 off just 39 with 11 fours, but when he on- drove Mohammed Siraj for four he had
reached his century off 88 balls and had provided another thrilling example of what this England team can do.
‘to go out and play like that when we were so far behind shows a lot of bravery,’ said Mark Wood, who took India’s last wicket yesterday to finish with four for 114. ‘He’s a nightmare to bowl at in the nets. We try to get him to leave one but he never does!’
the draw is not on the table, said Stokes before this test, and Duckett has backed up those words to give England a chance, with three days to go, of batting themselves into a position of superiority that looked unimaginable by mid-afternoon yesterday.
He lost Crawley, unusually becalmed in comparison to the left-hander in an opening stand of 89, when a top- edged sweep found rajat Patidar at short fine leg. It gave ashwin his 500th test wicket, hours before the India great was forced to withdraw fromm the rest of this test to attend to a family ly emergency.
Crawley’s dismissal did nothing to slow down England and Pope was all reverse sweeps and scoops again in adding 93 with h Duckett before he was given out to another decision that raised question marks over the accuracy of the DrS in this series.
In Visakhapatnam, Crawley was given lbw to Kuldeep yadav — a decision that Stokes believed was wrong. and now it seemed umpire joel Wilson was correct when he turned down paceman Siraj’s shout for one that looked to be heading down the legside.
India were not sure whether to review but were delighted they did. all three reds came up and Pope was reluctantly on his way. Everyone in cricket seems to think DrS is infallible but it is about time it is looked at because the doubts are growing. no matter. Duckett was there at the close on 133 off 118 balls, with two sixes and 21 fours to his name as well as the second- fastest century by an England opener in test historyhistory. only Crawley’s 86- ball effort on that equallyequal extraordinary day in rawalpindi lastlas winter stands aheadah of him. and theret with Duckette was joe root, desperate for a score after dropping rohit Sharma on the firstf day when heh had made justju 27 of his 131. thatth was one of five missedm chances — includinginclu failures to review — by an unusually sloppy England, two more catches going down yesterday from Pope and Stokes, the best fielder of all. It allowed India to score a hundred more than they should have done after winning an important toss on a good batting pitch, even if it was already taking turn and reverse swing yesterday.
But at least England started off in the unusual position of five without loss before a ball had been bowled after umpire Wilson handed India a penalty for persistently running down the pitch in an attempt to rough it up for their spinners.
It was hardly a surprise that the final transgressor was the feisty ashwin, after the umpires had officially warned ravindra jadeja and unofficially warned Sarfaraz Khan for the same offence on the first day. It was an unusual call but unquestionably, despite ashwin’s chagrin, the correct one.
not that it seemed to do India any good. yes, there was turn for ashwin, yadav and the under-used jadeja, possibly still feeling the affects of his hamstring injury, but none of it bothered Duckett, the one-time rabbit in the headlights who is now the dominator.
How times change. not only since that 2016-17 tour but also from England’s last visit here three years ago when, on this very day, they were bowled out for 164 in Chennai to lose by 317 runs.
now, thrillingly, they are making all the running again and are very much in this third test and the series.