 "Ben Duckett was declared the Player of the Match in Headingley Test for scoring 212 runs across two innings. Image: Reuters")
Former England cricketer Steve Harmison feels India’s lack of belief helped Ben Duckett slam a match-winning hundred on Day 5 of the Headingley Test as the hosts won the match by five wickets to take a 1-0 lead. The left-handed opener, Duckett, scored a 149 in the fourth and final innings before hitting 62 in the first essay.
More than just the runs, it was how he collected them that spoiled India’s bowling plans and took away the momentum from them.
Duckett was quite effective against Jasprit Bumrah and scored his runs at a strike rate of 88. He did make a mistake on 97 when he mistimed his hook shot off Mohammed Siraj, but Yashasvi Jaiswal failed to take the catch at deep square leg .
Harmison questions lack of belief in Indian bowling
Harmison criticised India’s bowling and said that they never believed they could get Duckett out. This allowed the opener to stitch a 188-run opening partnership with Zak Crawley.
“He (Duckett) believed he was going to score runs. He had a lot of positive intent, like he always does. I am not sure India believed they are going to get him out. I don’t think India got their plans right. I don’t think they bowled the right lengths and right lines to him. And, he capitalized on it," said Harmison.
Also Read | Ben Stokes speaks on reinventing Bazball and beating India at Headingley
Former pacer Harmison also said that India didn’t have a concrete plan to stop Duckett, which exposes their lack of strategy.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“They didn’t have an answer. They didn’t have a formula to stop him from scoring. They didn’t have a plan and really were rudderless when it came to what their plan was, executing their skill set. Even in the field, they weren’t stopping singles. India’s bowlers were bowling good balls, but England were getting singles,” said Harmison.