If a single innings could be said to have changed the way a generation will remember this India versus England series, it was England opener Ben Duckett’s magnificent 153 during the third Test against India.
The crowd and the Indian players at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot rubbed their eyes, unable to believe what they had seen. But it was true.
The diminutive English opener had just become the first England batter — and the first batter from any country — to score a hundred in a session in India. It was the second-fastest by an England opener in Test cricket and the third-fastest Test century in India by a visiting player.
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It was Test match batting from another planet; it was strokeplay designed to discard the antiquated components and replace them in a way that was more lethally efficient. The approach drew not so much on a new set of skills but on a different mentality. Borrowing from what Netherlands, Ajax and Barcelona great Johan Cruyff once said about football, “Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.”
The same applies to cricket, and Duckett seems to have imbibed that philosophy.
He was, of course, helped in no small measure by some baffling calls from India captain Rohit Sharma, chief among them not challenging Duckett with R. Ashwin until he had scored 55 or Ravindra Jadeja until he was on 97.
The Indian spinners, too, were guilty of neither trying to get Duckett to sweep from the rough nor bowling a wider line, knowing fully well that he does not leave many.
Duckett ended up smashing 73 off the 54 balls he faced from the spinners on the second day - 29 (16) vs. Kuldeep Yadav, 28 (27) vs. Ashwin and 16 (11) vs. Jadeja. Sweeping, reverse-sweeping, cutting , driving - Duckett’s innings had it all.
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His Test career appeared to be all but over in 2017, and he had to wait five long years for a crack at redemption. It came in the form of a recall for the historic tour to Pakistan two years ago, where a run-a-ball hundred in Rawalpindi reinvigorated his journey to becoming the poster boy of England’s new approach to Test cricket.
Conventional wisdom suggests that one of the key skills for a Test opener is knowing when to shoulder arms. Surprisingly, Duckett went the other way and decided that he was going to put bat on ball more often than not. He has done it against Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and now India - in different conditions and against varied bowling attacks.
“The way India changed the field and then he’d hit it somewhere else, it was just such a skilful innings against a good attack. He’s a nightmare to bowl at in the nets – we try to get him to leave the ball but he never leaves any,” Mark Wood had said about Duckett after play on Day 2.
On Saturday morning, Duckett smashed a wide long-hop from Kuldeep straight to cover for one of the more anticlimactic ends to one of the best Test knocks of the year. But Duckett would probably tell you he does not regret the shot, maybe just the timing of it.
One thing is for sure, Duckett’s unshackling impact has kept England alive and kicking in this Test.
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