(Cricket News) Ben Duckett’s incredible century, which came at 88 balls and was the third fastest against India in history, left the hosts stunned after they once again failed to score any runs in their opening 445-run innings.

The streakiness that one might expect from a century at this rate was completely absent. In his first 102 runs, Duckett hit one six and nineteen fours, all off the edge. Duckett’s stroke play left every bowler caught off guard as he pounced on any width from the quicks, swept and reverse-swept the spinners to distract them, and then took advantage of the resulting shorter deliveries.

In just 35 overs on the second day, he struck 133 of the 207 that England made for the loss of two wickets. India have only added 119 runs to their overnight 326 for 5 during their 45 overs of batting in the first half of the day. The trend of India losing wickets without any sort of build-up or clear strategy from England’s bowlers persisted.

Not that preparations or build-ups were effective, as Duckett proved. Duckett kept close to the line and crashed the quicks through the offside despite India’s attempt to bowl the channel. Duckett swiped and reverse-swept seven fours in his first four overs despite Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin attempts.

After taking out Zak Crawley for his 500th Test wicket, Duckett slog-swept a good-length ball off the stumps and then went back and removed R Ashwin. Ashwin was not given much time to celebrate.

Though they batted with confidence and comfort, Crawley, England’s top batsman so far this series, and Ollie Pope, who struck the stunning 196 to steal the first Test away from India, were relegated to mere bystanders.

Pope scored just 39 in the 93 added for the second wicket, while Crawley managed just 15 in the 89-run first-wicket stand. Still, Pope had ample time to pull off the reverse Dilscoop that had everyone’s mouths dropping in the first Test.

However, it was the alliance with Crawley that caused India to regress once more. In five innings this series, this was their fourth association of 50 or more. All visiting openers combined had assembled four stands of fifty or more between 2018 and 2023.

When Ashwin took the bowl, Duckett and Crawley had already gotten a significant lead, so he began with an outside leg disadvantage against Crawley. As a result, he eventually claimed his historic wicket when the ball bounced off the rough and took the upper edge during the sweep.
India needed to try to build another wicket now.

Kuldeep began by beating Pope’s bat on the outside edge, demonstrating that he is not a very strong starter. On 2 of 11, Pope, who may or may not have chosen the earlier wrong’un, determined that if he gets to its pitch and biffs it over the infield, it would not matter which way it is turning.

It signaled the start of another barrage of attacks, the most daring of which was the slog-sweep off Ashwin for his maiden six. Pope then began to take boundaries behind the wicket by using Ravindra Jadeja’s pace, first with a paddle sweep and then with a magnificent reverse Dilscoop. Next, the backward sweep. Then Duckett’s conventional one.

During this phase, Bumrah hit Duckett’s toe with a yorker, which was the closest India came to a wicket, but he had the inside half of the cue on it at the exact moment the ball fell. With the probable exception of Mohammed Shami replacing Mohammed Siraj, India was playing their greatest assault at home, which was a special reason for urgency.

Still, England was dominating them without any issues, pressure from the scoreboard be damned. India then chose to decrease the game’s pace. They followed England’s lead in handling Mark Wood. a field for bouncers, and continued to bow each one individually. It temporarily slowed down the over-rate in addition to the runs.

Later, when Siraj bowled one on a length, it exhibited the same wobble-seam behavior as his new ball. Before India had any relief, there had to be a review after such a successful ball with the old ball. In just thirty overs, England had already reached 182 for 2, trapping Pope on the crease.

Duckett’s contempt did not subside despite the wicket being just around the corner. Without any delay, he flipped Jadeja around for a clean six, winning the point that would have been his if he had not changed positions. When Duckett changed his defence in the final over, Ashwin nearly got him out, but the offbreak had fallen just outside leg.

India will be reminded of how easily they gave their own away by the amount of work they have to put in to gain their wickets. Similar to how Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed in the opening over of day two in Hyderabad, centurion Jadeja patted a return catch to Joe Root in the opening exchanges of the day following the run-out on day one.

Ashwin then put up a 77-run eighth-wicket partnership with rookie Dhruv Jurel, but not before he smashed legspinner Rehan Ahmed straight to mid-on, leaving him with a “what-did-I-just-do” look on his face. Since there were loose balls available, it is not like the spinners had put any dot-ball pressure on India.

India scored 445 runs, with 358 runs coming from three stands. Thirty of the remaining eighty-seven were made by one, for the penultimate wicket. But for India’s inexperienced batting lineup, it has been the tale of the series.

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