No player has seen a Test career more completely transformed in the Bazball era than Ben Duckett, because until the revolution began, he did not believe he had one.
On Friday, though, the batter played his finest hand yet, scoring the second-fastest Test hundred by an English opener in a country where, on his previous tour under a more cautious regime, he averaged only six.
In a stunning evening blitz, Duckett raced to three figures in just 88 balls, two more than partner Zak Crawley had taken to reach the landmark against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2022, but still the fastest century by an Englishman against India.
Replying to the home side's daunting 445, but burnished by the novelty of a six-run headstart — punishment for Ravichandran Ashwin running on the wicket and then Jasprit Bumrah's opening no-ball — Duckett went on the attack, charging to stumps unbeaten on 133 from 118 deliveries.
An opening stand of 89 in just 13 overs set the tone, before Crawley became master spinner Ashwin's 500th Test victim, but Ollie Pope's 39 continued the assault and India found limited response. By close, their lead had almost halved, England 207 for two, with 134 of those runs coming in boundaries.
Duckett had made starts — and quick ones at that — in all four innings across the first two Tests without kicking on a match-defining score. In the context of his role as firestarter-in-chief, those contributions, all between 21 and 47, represented a job reasonably well done, but a double-hundred from Yashasvi Jaiswal in Vizag and then Rohit Sharma's 131 in the first innings had set the openers' bar high. With the series on the line, England needed something of similar weight.
Duckett streaked to his 50 inside 10 overs, from just 39 balls, 11 boundaries included in that sprint; driven, swept, pulled and from his trademark cut. At 67 without loss, even discounting the opening freebies, England were already motoring at better than a run-a-ball. By close, they were still, with even Jasprit Bumrah, the world's best bowler, travelling around the park.
Crawley's dismissal prompted a brief slowdown, the Kent man top-edging Ashwin to make the bowler the second-fastest man to 500 Test poles, behind Muttiah Muralitharan, in just 98 matches.
It was simply an awesome innings from Duckett, coming just as India appeared to have seized control of this Test match
There was the odd close shave, closest when Bumrah's trademark yorker almost snuck through, but Rohit's captaincy was average, Ashwin, who has had the wood over Duckett across two tours eight years apart, not introduced until the batter was beyond 50.
In fairness, though, he is hardly the first captain to have been frazzled by an England onslaught.
In the field, India, too, looked rocked, wearied as if they had spent a full day in the dirt and not just the spell since 20 minutes before tea.
It was simply an awesome innings from Duckett, coming just as India appeared to have seized control of this Test match and, by its virtue, a series poised at 1-1.
At the innings break, England were again pondering opportunities missed, debutant Dhruv Jurel benefiting from a couple of drops to help India put on 114 for their final three wickets, after England had struck twice early in the day to reduce the hosts to 331 for seven.
Ravindra Jadeja, along with Rohit one of two centurions on the opening day, added only two to his overnight 110 before falling caught-and-bowled to Joe Root, after Kuldeep Yadav had been swiftly removed.
Jurel and Ashwin, though, were unruffled by Mark Wood's short-pitch spell and the latter, predictably, was quickly under the tourists' skin, five runs a small price to pay for his excursion into the centre of the track, after India had twice been warned about the offence on the opening day.
Jurel's inclusion ahead of specialist gloveman Srikar Bharat had come in search of greater aggression down the order, and the rookie certainly provided that, ramping Wood for six for his first Test boundary, then dancing down to show Rehan Ahmed similar disdain on his way to 46.
He was, however, the beneficiary of two let-offs en route, first Pope and then Ben Stokes shelling catches they ought to have held. James Anderson almost made it a hat-trick of clangers, only grabbing Ashwin off Ahmed at the second attempt, before Ben Foakes's brilliance at close-quarters to dismiss Jurel showed all three how it ought to be done.
