India Dominates Opening Test as England Faces Spin Challenge

Hyderabad: England opener Ben Duckett credited Team India for their attacking approach against the visitors on Day One of the opening Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.
“It was a tricky Day 1 pitch with consistent spin from early on. Stokes (Ben) was fantastic. I just said come down Day 3, Day 4, that could be a match winning knock if that pitch keeps getting harder to bat on and we are really happy. Credit to India, they played really well and were attacking. You know, they don’t always go about it like that. So, to do that shows that they probably think the pitch is going to get quite a bit worse,” he said.
“We’re trying to be positive and I think you get an opportunity to get a bit of pace on the ball. But yeah, they bowled some very nice balls and I reckon I probably could have nicked about 15 times. I missed them and then put the bad ball away, so yeah, really happy with how we started it,” he added.
The 29-year-old wanted to look for ways to tackle the Indian attack in the remaining days. “I think it’s really important. I am trying to figure out what the pitch is gonna be like as soon as possible. I relay that information back to my team, whether it’s gonna be a flat pitch which doesn’t spin as much or it gets harder and probably turns in the last three days,” he said.
Duckett backed his teammate Tom Hartley after Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed an unbeaten 76 to lead his side’s charge. Hartley proved expensive by conceding 63 runs in nine runs without a wicket. “We backed Tommy to turn to Stokes (Ben) who decides for him how many overs to bowl. On some days captains might take you off after two overs and then you’re hiding away for the rest of the game. But he nearly got Shubman Gill in the end and I am not quite sure how that’s gonna miss the stumps. I thought he came back really well,” said Duckett.