3rd Test, Rajkot: Ben Duckett's superb ton powers England's rapid response against India

The match is delicately poised with England 238 runs behind but their attacking intent is putting India under immense pressure.

There’s no one way of playing Test cricket. It’s a matter of making a choice and sticking to it. The second day’s action at Rajkot was an example one can cite to make the point. The morning session saw India scoring at a run rate of 2.30 runs per over but the day ended with England smashing 176 runs in the evening session at a run rate of 6.07. 114 of those runs were scored by Ben Duckett alone. The left-hander, having scored the third fastest against India in India, is unbeaten on 133* (118b, 21x4, 2x6) and England has already raced away to 207/2 in response to India’s 445.

England's Ben Duckett acknowledges the crowd after scoring a century (AP)

The match, though, is still delicately poised. England could amass a huge total at breakneck speed but the plan could very well come a cropper too if the pitch starts deteriorating just a little more.

Cut to England’s response which began after India had finished close to 450 – the traditional barometer of a good first innings effort in Indian conditions, given that the hosts will also the advantage bowling last. But give how England bat under Ben Stokes, India wouldn’t have been sure if those were enough. By the end of the day, Duckett had planted a few more seeds of doubt in their minds.

Both Duckett and Zak Crawley, contrasting in methods, can be a handful on good pitches. The Rajkot pitch, definitely is looking good for batting. Unlike in the last Test where Crawley attacked, it was Duckett here who began to go after Kuldeep Yadav immediately after tea. He launched into the left-arm wristspinner, using plenty of sweeps and reverse-sweeps. India’s captain Rohit Sharma tried to not be reactive and persist with Kuldeep but after a spell of 6-1-42-0, Rohit had to take the bowler out of the attack.

In came R Ashwin and when he sent Crawley back to take his 500th Test wicket, he brought about a momentary change of mood in the Indian camp. But by then, the England openers had raced away to 89/1 in 13.1 overs at 6.84 runs per over.

Ashwin’s seniority wasn’t offered any respect either, as Duckett made room and slog-swept him for six. Immediately after, the 37-year-old off-spinner changed lengths and pitched it shorter... hoping for some turn, but he was pulled away for a boundary.

All through the series, when Rohit has been desperate for a wicket, he has played the Bumrah card. The speedster, came searching for wickets, armed with his menacing yorker. With Duckett speeding away on 79 off 72 balls, Bumrah nailed one and beat the left-hander. But Duckett survived the DRS call and India lost a review.

That’s the other effect of Bazball, the opposition can get desperate for wickets and lose reviews – India have already lost two, 35 overs into this England innings. Duckett stood a chance of scoring the quickest ever hundred for an England opener. That wasn’t to be. But he wasn’t chasing his opening partner Crawley’s 86-ball hundred record. All he wanted to do was shock India into submission. And as he celebrated his 88-ball hundred, one can argue that he managed to do that to a great degree.

Watching all his conventional plans bettered by the visitors, India resorted to the same short-ball tactic that England employed using Mark Wood. Mohammed Siraj was the designated bowler from round-the-wicket. Siraj didn’t have Wood’s pace, but he had the will. It took him three overs to catch Ollie Pope 39 (55b) at the crease with the old two card trick.

But India couldn’t make any further inroads as Duckett continued to attack. He even forced Ravindra Jadeja to twice overstep the line. To ease the mood and send a message to the bowler, Rohit was heard speaking on the stump mic, “T20 hai, no ball allowed nahi hai’ (‘It’s T20, no balls not allowed’). It was clear what mood Duckett’s innings put India in.

“I think they’ve managed to increase the scoring rate, which is exactly what they wanted to do. And, exploit a pretty inexperienced batting lineup of ours. I think those two facets of the game are very clear,” Ashwin said after the day’s play. “The way they are playing is high-risk cricket and you would expect the rub of the green to go your way, like how it did in Vizag.”

Jurel's compact start

The sole bright spot during India’s batting was Dhruv Jurel’s compact innings on debut. If making first impressions mattered, Jurel did that with his first boundary in Test cricket - an upper cut against Wood’s express speed. Following that, he settled down to show another facet of his game – willingness to buckle down. Together with R Ashwin (37), Jurel showed, he was willing to play the patience game, when England plugged all gaps inside the circle. Although, he was fortuitous, getting two lives while on 32, with his 46 (104b, 2x4, 3x6), the wicket-keeper gave a good account of himself with the bat.