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8 hours ago
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England are not ones for “reining it in” with the bat according to Ben Duckett, the opener defending his side’s six-hitting approach as they attempt to launch a comeback in the five-match Twenty20 international series against India.
The hosts lead 2-1 going in to the fourth match in Pune on Friday, England having secured their first win of the tour on Tuesday evening. A 26-run margin was a worthy achievement considering the visitors’ mixed bag of a first innings.
The old-world method after Jos Buttler was dismissed for 24 would have been to consolidate, spend the next few minutes knocking around the ones and twos, and keep it quiet while Harry Brook settled in. England were 83 for two, nine overs gone, a solid base set, Duckett one away from his first half-century as an opener in T20 internationals.
Duckett went the other way. Eyeing up a six off Axar Patel’s left-arm spin six balls later, Duckett did not find the middle, only the hands of Abhishek Sharma, a flurry of middle-order wickets following as England fell to 127 for eight with four overs remaining.
The 30-year-old is not one for intense self-flagellation though. “In my pre-match net session, I was just trying to hit spinners for six over and over again,” Duckett said. “Two years ago, I would probably have been disappointed with myself how I got out, but me now, I’m thinking I missed out on six runs.
“I know what Axar does, I have faced him in Test cricket and it felt like my match-up. We speak about it a lot, we’d just lost a wicket but this side isn’t about reining it in. You saw what [Liam Livingstone] did after we lost two or three wickets, hitting three sixes. I was just disappointed I didn’t hit it – I won’t say 10 rows back, three rows back – because [Patel] was the guy I should have taken down.”
Resorting to big hits when in strife has been England’s way on this tour, represented through Livingstone’s five sixes in his crucial 24-ball 43, the right-hander liberated by the carnage at the other end.
“A lot of teams might have scrambled to 140-150 there and lost the game,” said Duckett. “I imagine halfway through our innings people would have been saying it was dumb cricket and it wasn’t going to work, but we ended up winning by 26 runs because we bat so far down and we can go out and play as aggressively as we do.
“It’s a big moment for this team because it could have gone a different way. Credit to the guys for doing exactly what [Brendon McCullum] wants us to go and do. It’s to entertain. At times it’s not going to work, and that’s fine. But we could easily be 2-1 up in the series if things had gone a little bit better for us at the back end of the second game.”
If Duckett sounds increasingly like a Bazball hype-man, it could be because he clearly has the trust of McCullum. The head coach’s first white-ball tour has coincided with Duckett’s ascension to the top of the T20I order, making him England’s opener in every format.
It’s no easy gig, managing to do it against red and white in a relentless calendar, few players capable of consistency across all three forms. Fittingly, his 28-ball 51 in Rajkot was at the same venue at which he made a Test hundred last February. “[McCullum] has seen what I can do in the Test arena so I think having him come in, potentially take a risk with me up top, I want to make that spot my own,” said Duckett.
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With England having avoided rest and rotation with their quicks, a raft of changes in Pune seems unlikely with a series victory still possible. Jamie Smith may well make way for Jacob Bethell after leaving the field on Tuesday due to a tight calf.
One man who will surely feature for India is Varun Chakravarthy, the spinner having caused England all sorts with 10 wickets in three matches. He has climbed to fifth in the men’s T20I bowling rankings, but Adil Rashid, sublime in Rajkot with one for 15 off his four overs, sits at the top.
Probable teams:
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh
England: Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
