This England team have each other’s backs so when Ben Duckett sat in front of the dictaphones after stumps on the third evening in Rajkot – a day later than his century deserved – it was inevitable that he would leap to the defence of Joe Root.
Unfortunately for Duckett, Root was among the chief talking points on the English side of the ledger. His attempted reverse scoop off Jasprit Bumrah in the morning continued an uncharacteristic run of low scores, the trigger for England handing India the advantage with a collapse of eight for 95 in just over two hours.
Root’s top score so far on tour is the 29 made on the opening day of the series in Hyderabad, an alarming run for a player of such pedigree. Duckett, recalling the reverse-scooped six he lifted over the slips off Pat Cummins on day one of last summer’s Ashes series, was keen to take on any critics.
“I’d be interested to know if those people were against it when he was doing it to Cummins,” Duckett said. “Rooty’s a freak: he does things a lot of us can’t do. In my eyes, that’s the same as playing a drive and nicking off to second slip. Rooty plays that shot so well. It’s the same as me playing a reverse sweep and getting caught at point.
“Options are practised and that shot has been very successful for him over the past year, so next time it may go over slip.”
While Duckett added 20 runs to his overnight 133, the opener was quieter than on the second day. His diagnosis for the slow down at the back end of an innings he still ranked as his best to date was tighter lines from India’s seamers and more protection on the boundary for their spinners.
“It was one of those days when I feel we have to give credit to India,” Duckett said. “I do think they had a very good day, which they didn’t yesterday, and they bounced back today and were superb.”
England crumbling from 207 for two to a below-par 319 all out on a day that should have allowed the bowlers to rest was simply the rough that comes with the smooth for Duckett. He is a player fully invested in the ever-upbeat talk that runs through the current squad and happy to share some of the more surprising elements publicly.
After India closed on an ominous 196 for two, a lead of 322, he added: “[Ben] Stokes spoke to us before we went out to field and said he actually wanted us to get out today, have a bowl at them and get cracking with it. It was slightly earlier than we planned but we wanted to get out there and get at them. Whatever the situation is, we’ll try to throw punches back at them.”
Asked about a realistic target in the fourth innings, Duckett replied: “The more the better. This team is all about doing special things and creating history. They can have as many as they want and we’ll go and get them.”
