Ben Duckett, the opening man for England, said that the attacking style of Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma caught them off guard on the first day of the first Test at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Notably, the Indian openers came out firing and put on a huge 80-run stand for the first wicket off 74 balls after bundling out England for 246.
In his maiden Test match in India, Jaiswal displayed his most aggressive side as he blasted nine fours and three sixes his route to 76 off 70 balls.
Ben Duckett, the opening batsman for England, said that they were taken aback by the positive approach of the Indians and might have easily taken three or four wickets in their innings.
“Things might have gone very differently tonight if we had three or four [wickets]. They deserve praise for the great way they performed at the top. Although we didn’t necessarily anticipate them playing that way, Ben Stokes, often known as Stokesy, helped us achieve what we believe to be an above-average score. They don’t always do things that way, so approaching it in that manner suggests that they anticipate the pitch getting significantly worse, the source was cited by ESPNCricinfo.
Speaking ahead of schedule, the 29-year-old praised Jaiswal for his aggressive approach and expressed his desire to eliminate India as soon as possible on Day 2.
“I thought his playing was excellent. You would expect nothing less of their boys than for them to perform well out here because these are home conditions for India. They seemed quite set with those two, even the wicket to get Rohit, and then that occurred. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring similar circumstances. We can always try three or four [wickets] on them. He continued, “I think we’re right in the game if we can restrict them to within our score, or even a small advantage.
With Ben Stokes’ 70, England reached 246.
Notably, Duckett (35 off 39) and Zak Crawley (20 off 40) combined to put England on a fast start when the team decided to bat first. Together, they added 55 runs for the first wicket. But the Indian bowlers immediately recovered, bringing the visitors down to 155/7. Ben Stokes, the skipper, batted with the tail after that and produced an incredible innings of 70 (88) to assist his team reach 246.
India, in response, trailed England by 127 runs at the end of 23 overs, with Jaiswal (76* off 70) and Shubman Gill (14* off 43) leading the way. India ended the day on 119/1.
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