England pace bowler Mark Wood on Friday said opener Ben Duckett forced India to constantly change the field placement as he played a “skilful innings against a good attack” in Rajkot on the second day of the third Test. Duckett cracked 21 fours and two sixes, scoring an unbeaten 133 off 118 balls that helped England make a strong start in reply to India’s first-innings total of 445. England finished the day at a strong 207/2, having erased almost half of India’s total and now trail by 238 runs.
“He played with real bravery. To be that far behind in the game and go out and play like that showed real bravery and skill,” Wood told the media after the day’s play when asked about Duckett’s third Test century.
“The way India changed the field and then he’d hit it somewhere else, it was such a skilful innings against a good attack. He’s a nightmare to bowl (to) at the nets; we try to get him to leave one but he never leaves any,” he said.
“Maybe, he hasn’t gotten the accolades that he would like with big scores, but this was his day and it was amazing to watch.
“It’s a rapid outfield and we certainly felt it was tough to contain, and Ducky (Duckett) really took it on and played in an aggressive fashion to put the pressure back on India,” Wood added.
The England quick revealed he was not aware of the rule where England were awarded five runs for Indian batters running on the pitch.
There were two instances where Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ran on the pitch during India’s innings and umpire Joel Wilson awarded England five runs.
“I was not aware, I was at deep-square on the boundary. When the umpire (signalled), I was like ‘what is going on here?'” Wood said.
“I honestly didn’t know the rule which is pretty shocking for an international cricketer, but I just assumed that when all the lads were looking at each other and giggling, that something had happened,” he said.
“Jonny (Bairstow) was very adamant about looking after the wicket, he wanted everyone to be off it. I get warned plenty of times for running on the wicket when I bowl, so it’s nice to get one back off the batters,” Wood added.
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