Ben Duckett's Brave Century Overshadows Ashwin's Milestone in India-England Test

When England's 2016 trip to India brought Ben Duckett back to the bat, Ravichandran Ashwin had all but clinched his Test career. Duckett seemed completely lost in front of Ashwin in both Rajkot and Visakhapatnam, as the off-spinner removed him each of the three games in that series.

At the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Friday, Ashwin once again stole the show by reaching 500 wickets in Test cricket. But Duckett (133 batting) is the man who really stole the show on Day II of the third Test. With his brave century, England was able to reach 207/2 at stumps in response to India's daunting 445.


Even though centurion Ravindra Jadeja only added two runs to his overnight total of 110, Ashwin (37) and fellow debutant Dhruv Jurel (46) produced a tenacious 77-run eighth-wicket combination that allowed India to surpass the 400 mark. However, in the 35 overs that England got to bat on Friday, Duckett—who was well supported by Ollie Pope (39)—put on a show of bazball.

In his 118-ball unbroken innings, which included 21 boundaries and a handful of maximums, the 29-year-old executed every stroke to perfection, including drives, pulls, reverse sweeps, conventional sweeps, and slog sweeps.

Yes, the pitch is sluggish and flat, even with varying bounce. It's possible that India captain Rohit Sharma was a touch slow to put Ashwin and Jadeja into the attack, and Duckett had already found his rhythm by then.

All in all, however, Duckett deserves recognition for the pace he was able to keep throughout. With the exception of one yorker from Jasprit Bumrah that almost trapped him leg before wicket, Duckett too proved to be a rock against India's pace machine.

"It took true bravery and skill to play like that when you were that far behind in the game." Pacer Mark Wood (4/114), who concluded with the best statistics for England in the first innings, underlined that it was a really skilled performance against a strong assault because of the way India moved the field and then he'd smash it someplace else.

Duckett even received appreciation from Ashwin. "If only I could have bowled to him when he was on nought instead of 60-70." He made a few pretty remarkable shots, such as the slog sweeps.

Ashwin wrote, "I wanted to clap at his 100, but the hardcore competitor in me didn't let me."

Penalty runs

After India gave up a five-run penalty for Ashwin's running on the protected area of the pitch during the first session of Day II's cricket match, England started their first innings with five runs already on the board.

When Jadeja rushed on the protected area on Day I, India had already gotten their last warning.

On Friday, in the 16th over, Ashwin went down the field and pushed the ball towards cover to give England those extra runs. "I knew there was a warning, but I couldn't get off the field in time due to my poor motor skills," Ashwin later said.

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