India vs England: Ben Duckett's blazing 88-ball ton leaves Indians scratching their heads at Rajkot

From 33/3 on Thursday morning, India ended up mounting a total of 445 on Friday thanks primarily to centuries from Rohit Sharma (131) and Ravindra Jadeja (112) as well as impressive knocks from debutants Sarfaraz Khan (62) and Dhruv Jurel (46). Jasprit Bumrah too did his part to frustrate the English attack after lunch on the second day, ensuring the hosts got within touching distance of the 450-mark.

The wicket at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium, formerly the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, certainly is a batters’ paradise and the best wicket of the three that we have witnessed so far in this series. And eclipsing a total of 445 is no joke for a visiting team in a Test series against India. Even if it happens to be the highly-rated English batting lineup and their ability to flatten the best of attacks with their unorthodox approach to the traditional format.

At the end of the second day of the third Test between India and England, however, few would be discussing the Indian batting performance despite the fact that the hosts had just mounted the highest innings total so far in the ongoing series. For starters, Ravichandran Ashwin finally achieved the feat that had eluded him in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, dismissing Zak Crawley to become only the ninth bowler in the history of Test cricket as well as the second Indian to join the 500-wicket club.

5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣* …

Ashwin becomes only the Indian to achieve this remarkable feat! #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/uNqd7a87iF

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 16, 2024

Then there was opener Ben Duckett smashing his way to an 88-ball century and helping England collecting 207 runs for the loss of two wickets at a run-rate of nearly six that ended up overshadowing everything else that took place on Friday in Rajkot.

There had been plenty of chatter surrounding ‘Bazball’ in the build-up to the marquee Test series as well as during the first two matches, where the England batters took on the Indian attack head-on and were largely successful in negating their spinners through the sweeps and reverse sweeps and their no-holds barred approach.

It was on Friday, however, that Team India fully understood what it felt like to be at the receiving end of ‘Bazball’ in its full glory. Despite the fact that they have a total of nearly 450 in the bank and still lead by over 200 runs, the Indians were left scratching their heads at the end of the day’s play, still reeling from getting toyed by the opposition batters almost as if they were a club side facing against the world Test champions.

Ollie Pope had masterminded a comeback for the ages with his magnificent 196 during England’s second innings in Hyderabad but let’s not forget the fact that the Englishmen faced the prospect of losing the series opener inside three days at one point, by an innings even.

What England dished out on Friday, especially in the extended evening session in which they plundered 179 runs from 26 overs, was something that the word ‘annihilation’ should ideally be used to describe.

Duckett finally scores big after a series of starts

Duckett had scored a Test century on two previous occasions, starting a 110-ball 107 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi with three of his teammates also scored tons in the same innings. That was followed by a 178-ball 182 against Ireland at the Lord’s right before the Ashes last year.

Bossing a near-full-strength Indian attack in their own conditions, to the point where they appeared clueless against him in their own conditions, however, is the stuff of dreams and something a batter can brag about for the rest of his career.

Ben Duckett, take a bow!

He achieves his 3️⃣rd Test century, also marking the fastest by an batter in India! #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/u1BtaGs35M

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 16, 2024

Duckett had not gone past the fifty-mark since scoring 98 and 83 against the Aussies in the second Test of the Ashes at the ‘Home of Cricket’. He had been getting off to promising starts in this series as well, scoring 35 and 47 in Hyderabad as well as 21 and 28 in Vizag — at more than run-a-ball on both occasions at that.

But the southpaw couldn’t quite convert any of those starts, and ended up getting overshadowed by opening partner Crawley and No 3 batter Pope, the former easily England’s standout batter in what was otherwise an abject batting performance by the visitors in Visakhapatnam.

It didn’t take long for Duckett to settle at the crease, starting off with a couple of dots before opening his account with a single off Mohammed Siraj’s bowling. The very next over, he would collect the first boundary of the innings by punching a short-of-length ball from Bumrah square of the wicket for an easy boundary in what was a sign of things to come.

Ben Duckett in India = transformation

2016 2024 pic.twitter.com/IshczcNJJ6

— England's Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) February 16, 2024

He would then collect three boundaries in a space of 10 deliveries from Bumrah and Siraj and race to 19 in 22 deliveries as England reached 31 for no loss after six overs at tea. A familiar start for the visitors, though Rohit and Co would’ve been backing themselves to turn things around with an early wicket or two at the start of the evening session.

Instead, the visitors would end up plundering a whopping 176 runs in the extended final session from just 29 overs for the loss of two wickets, with 114 of those runs coming off Duckett’s bat alone off just 96 deliveries. The southpaw had signalled his intentions right after tea by smacking consecutive boundaries off Kuldeep Yadav in the first over of spin in the innings, expectedly bringing out the sweep, and giving Siraj similar treatment in the following over.

And it’s not just Kuldeep and Siraj alone who would face the brunt of his wrath; local boy Ravindra Jadeja would end up going for 33 runs in four overs — which could be considered expensive even by T20 standards. Duckett did not shy away from subjecting Ashwin, India’s standout bowler from the day’s play to a similar treatment — playing an expansive sweep off a full delivery one moment and following it up with a confident shot off the back foot after forcing the veteran to shorten his length in the very next delivery.

There still is a long way to go in this Test, and a couple of wickets early on Saturday could swing the game back in India’s favour. But if there’s a lesson learnt from Duckett’s majestic knock, it is that he has managed to hold a mirror to the Indian team and given them another reality check just when things appeared to be falling in their favour after the events of Vizag.