India v England: 'Out of this world' Ben Duckett and tourists' batting has made hosts 'panic', says Alastair Cook
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/02/2024 at 14:17 GMT
Alastair Cook and Steven Finn were both full of praise for the performance of Ben Duckett after he smashed an unbeaten 133. Cook says Duckett's batting was "out of this world". England reached 207-2 in response to India's 445 on day two of the third Test in Rajkot. The five-Test series is currently level at 1-1. England won the first match in Hyderabad before India levelled in Visakhapatnam.
England's Ben Duckett celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the second day of the third Test cricket match between India and England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on February 16, 2024
Image credit: Getty Images
Former England captain Alastair Cook has praised the "extraordinary" performance of Ben Duckett as he became England's fastest centurion against India on the second day of the Third test.
Duckett made it to 133 not out, with 21 fours and two sixes, as England ended the day 207-2 and now trail India by 238 runs.
TNT Sports expert Cook said in the studio that Duckett's ability to baffle India's bowlers has been "out of this world" and that his batting has made India panic.
He said: "Ben Duckett has made a guy [Ravi Ashwin] who has taken 500 Test wickets, who we've been saying is the best bowler in the world in all formats, not know where to bowl. It's been extraordinary.
"It's all well and good saying I'm going to be aggressive and positive, but actually the skill level Ben Duckett showed playing those sweeps against [Ravi] Ashwin and [Ravindra] Tadeja is out of this world.
"Wherever they put the fielder he hits a shot where they're not there. That's obviously the art of batting but jeez that's very hard to actually do.
"The sweeping, I'd love to know how he actually does it. It was a real pleasure to watch an English batsman to take it to this great Indian bowling lineup. It made them not know where to go."
He added: "I think they panicked a little bit [and it's] the confrontational nature of Bazball."
Fellow TNT Sports pundit Steven Finn said Duckett and England's batting performance on day two has been "staggering" and agrees that India's bowlers have been left confused.
"The England bowlers were confident and buoyed by the fact that the Indian bowlers were just almost sitting ducks to be got out it felt like at times," he said.
"While when you're a bowler and people are coming at you like Ben Duckett, rather than think 'I'm going to smash a good length and get a bit of seam movement'. You run up thinking: 'I can't bowl at his cut here. I can't feed him a cut shot' because that's going to give him even more momentum.
"Immediately that shift in mindset that you have as a bowler then relays through every bit of your body and effectively what comes out of your hand is affected by that.
"They're in a great position now in the game and Ravi Ashwin at the end of day two is doing interviews saying: 'wow, we've never seen people play like this'. That just doesn't happen in a Test series and it's staggering really."
Speaking after the day's play Ravi Ashwin said he thought India need to be highly disciplined if they are to prevent the tourists from taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
"We just need to hang in there and exercise best disciplines like you would in Test cricket," he said after the match.
"England has found themselves in such situations before in the series and we've found a way to get us back into the match.
"The game is hanging in the balance, good spell, probably some things going our way tomorrow morning and we could right away start dominating the game right away once again.
"They are putting you under pressure but it's important to not react to that pressure and respond very well."
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