Steve Harmison questions India’s bowling plans against Ben Duckett on 5th day of opening Test

Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison questioned India’s bowling plans against Ben Duckett on the final day of the opening Test at Leeds, Headingley, which the visitors lost by five wickets on Tuesday. The former lanky pacer said Indian bowlers lacked belief that they could dismiss Duckett in the second innings.

The England opener went on to score a match-winning knock of 149 runs in the run-chase of 371 and played a key role in the home team’s win. Duckett added a crucial alliance of 188 runs with his opening partner, Zak Crawley, who scored 65 runs.

The southpaw had the rub of the green as he dropped by Yashasvi Jaiswal when he was on 97 and he was able to capitalise on his second chance. The left-hander played Ravindra Jadeja with aplomb and employed the reverse sweep with great success.

Steve Harmison said on ESPN Cricinfo, “Ben Duckett played wonderfully well. He believed he was going to play a match-winning knock. He 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.”

Harmison added Indian bowlers looked clueless as England batters were rotating the strike consistently, even on good deliveries.

“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.”

On the other hand, Duckett revealed the strategy was to not lose any wicket in the first hour of play. Indian pacers – Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj – bowled well in the opening hour but the England openers were able to keep them at bay.

Duckett said, “In that period [first session], it was really important that me and Zak got through without losing any wickets. It was pretty clear to us this morning. If we batted for the whole day [at the tempo that] we normally do, we’d probably get the total, so we didn’t overthink anything. Certainly we had to get through Jasprit’s first spell and that new ball, and from there on, we were just playing our natural games.”

The second Test match between India and England will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, from July 2nd onwards.