Ben Duckett’s blistering century leads England’s thrilling reply; England 207/2 at stumps after India’s 445

Rajkot: Left-handed opener Ben Duckett smashed the fastest Test century by an England batter in India to take the visitors to 207/2 in 35 overs at stumps on Day Two of the third Test at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Friday.

England trail India by 238 runs after bowling out the hosts for 445 on an engrossing day of Test cricket, thanks to Duckett’s attacking display with the bat, which left the hosts with no answers to counter his whirlwind knock.

Duckett got his century in 88 balls and ended the day at 133 not out off 118 balls, laced with 21 fours and two sixes to leave India on the back-foot. Duckett was severe on anything short and dealt it with disdain. If it was a full-length ball, it was driven easily through cover or down the ground. If balls were needed to sweep or reverse-sweep, it was greeted with utmost precision from Duckett’s willow.

England were 6/0 even before a legal ball was sent down: five runs came from the penalty which came after Indian batters ran in the danger area of the pitch while batting, with the one run coming from Jasprit Bumrah bowling a no-ball.

Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who was fine to bowl after suffering from a blow on the right knee during India’s batting innings, found a bit of movement with the new ball to beat Duckett and Crawley. Duckett showed his intentions quickly -- severe with his cut, drives and punches to be unbeaten on 19 off 22 balls at tea.

Post tea, Duckett continued his onslaught on the Indian bowlers, sweeping firmly against Kuldeep Yadav twice, followed by driving and slamming Mohammed Siraj for two fours. Duckett reverse-swept against Kuldeep and steered Siraj twice through the gap on the off-side to get his fifty in just 39 balls.

Duckett and Crawley took two boundaries each off Kuldeep before the latter top-edged a sweep to short fine-leg as Ravichandran Ashwin ended the 89-run opening partnership to get his 500th Test wicket, becoming the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to get the momentous achievement.

Ollie Pope hit five fours and a six in his 55-ball 39, before being trapped LBW by Siraj. Duckett and Joe Root (nine not out) hit some boundaries before stumps arrived, including the former surviving an LBW call in the final over of the day.

Earlier, Ashwin (37) and debutant wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (46) added 77 runs for the eighth-wicket stand, followed by Bumrah making 26 at the end to take India to a strong total of 445 in 130.5 overs.

Resuming on 331/7, India added only 62 runs to their total in the morning session. James Anderson struck in the fourth over of the session after getting a faint edge of nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav's bat to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. In the next over, Jadeja chipped a tame drive straight back to part-time off-spinner Joe Root, falling for 112.

With two new fresh batters, England went to Mark Wood’s thunderbolts, and Ashwin got off the mark with a beautiful punch through cover for four. He tried to bounce out Jurel, who arched back and ramped over slips for six.

Ashwin continued to hit lovely drives and cuts for boundaries, while Jurel looked solid and cleverly glanced and drove in the gap to get his runs, as making 400+ now looks like a realistic target for India.

The only blip for India though was Ashwin running into the danger area while facing Rehan Ahmed in the 102nd over, which led to on-field umpire Joel Wilson fining India with a five-run penalty. IANS

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