Sometimes, while watching live sport, evocative memories take you back to a different time and place. Day 5 of the first Test between India and England was one such instance where Ben Duckett’s reverse sweeps against Ravindra Jadeja brought back memories from an Under-19 World Cup game held in the UAE in 2014. The desert of the UAE and the grey skies in Leeds aren’t exactly synonymous with each other. But Duckett’s ability to get on top of the bounce to reverse sweep Jadeja time and again was reminiscent of his stroke-play while facing Kuldeep Yadav in that World Cup quarterfinal game versus India U19.
There was a subplot attached to his reverse sweeps against both Kuldeep and Deepak Hooda in that match. At times, he looked rather ungainly but he always seemed to conveniently forget the previous outcome and concentrate on the next one. All that improvisation helped as Duckett’s quick-fire 61 was instrumental in steering England past India in a thriller.
Some 11 years later at Headingley, he didn’t just explore every nook and cranny of the ground while facing Jadeja, but his breezy hundred guided England to an epochal victory. The hosts chased down what seemed like a massive target of 371 for the loss of just five wickets. It wasn’t just about how he handled Jadeja as he also showed the required temperament while facing the seam-bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj upfront.
Both the pace bowlers were quite disciplined with the new ball and went past the edge of Zak Crawley and Duckett a few times. However, Duckett was prepared to play late and bide his time. His ability to play late ensured that he could rotate the strike by dabbing deliveries square and behind square on the off-side. His clever rotation of strike also meant that the pace bowlers had to adjust their lines and lengths against the right-hand and left-hand combination of Crawley and Duckett. Once the support pacers and Jadeja were brought into the attack, Duckett took the aggressive route and changed gears.
Two years after Duckett played in that Under-19 World Cup in the UAE, he couldn’t seem to buy a run in India. Ravichandran Ashwin was all over Duckett like a rash. He was soon dropped from the England set-up.
However, ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have put their trust in Duckett – he returned to the national fold in the series in Pakistan in 2022 – he has turned out to be the unsung hero of some of their victories. Duckett’s 2621 runs in Test cricket have come at a stunning strike rate of just over 86 and he averages a healthy 43.68. For once, instead of being in the shadows of his more illustrious partners, Duckett is rightly hogging the limelight for his game-breaking innings of 149.
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