Follow UsBen Duckett was in excellent form going into the first Test against India at Headingley. In his 10 previous innings across formats before this, he had slammed a couple of big centuries and three fifties. Safe to say, his wicket was always going to be key.
India not just had one chance but had two golden opportunities to get rid of the southpaw, but they failed to latch onto their catches. Duckett has made the most of it and slammed his 14th Test fifty off 68 deliveries.
Speaking of the chances, the first one came as early as the fifth over, when Duckett pushed at a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah outside off and the ball flew to Yashasvi Jaiswal's right at gully. He dove one-handed but could not hang on to it.
While you could give the fielder the benefit of the doubt on that occasion, there is no excuse for what Ravindra Jadeja did. Duckett slashed a ball outside off for Bumrah's final delivery of the seventh over, and the ball went straight to Jadeja at backward point at a comfortable height. He spilled that as well, giving Duckett his second chance in his 20-ball delivery.
India have been rather poor with their ground fielding with Bumrah and even Shubman Gill misfielding at times.
The England opener will now look to make India toil further and convert this into a big one. With the conditions bright and sunny, batting too has become easier as time has passed.