DESTRUCTIVE DUCKETT RACES TO CENTURY AS ENGLAND COME OUT IN FIGHTING MOOD

BEN DUCKETT scored the secondfastest hundred by an England opener as the tourists made: dominant start to their reply on day two of the Third Test in Rajkot.

- Malik Ouzia

In a stunning evening blitz, Duckett raced to three figures in just 88 deliveries, two more than Zak Crawley's record 86 against Pakistan in 2022, as India found no response to England's top-order aggression in replying to a daunting 445.

Burnished by the novelty of a six-run head-start - punishment for Ravichandran Ashwin running on the wicket and then Jasprit Bumrah's opening no-ball - England's openers shared a stand of 89 runs in just 13 overs before Crawley fell to Ashwin, becoming the master spinner's 500th Test wicket.

Heading into the final hour of play, though, Duckett had been joined by Ollie Pope to carry England beyond 150 without further loss.

Duckett had made starts - and quick ones at that in all four innings across the first two Tests without kicking on. Compared to the player that toured in 2016 and averaged six, and in the context of his brief, alongside Crawley, as firestarter-inchief, those contributions represented a job reasonably well done. But a doublehundred from Yashasvi Jaiswal in Vizag and then Rohit Sharma's 131 in the first GM innings here had shown the potential for opening batters to mould matches, and left India's winning the head-to-head by some margin.