Even as he smashed a terrific century, Ben Duckett is in the firing line of everyone, including the English cricket fraternity, for his comments during the course of the Rajkot Test, which England eventually lost by a huge margin of 434 runs, allowing India to take a lead of 2-1 after being 0-1 down.
At the end of day 3 in Rajkot, with India sitting handsomely with a lead of over 300 as Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed a brilliant century, Ben Duckett said that England would go after any target India set them. In fact, the opener said the bigger the target India set for them, the bigger the chance for England to create history.
Ben Duckett had said at the end of Day 3, “The more the better. This team is all about doing special things and creating history. They can have as many as they want and we’ll go and get them.”
Ben Duckett was full of himself: Geoffrey Boycott
It feels that while only the ones in the England dressing room would believe such comments as a sign of confidence and trust in Bazball, outside everyone were left astonished. India set England a huge target of 557 runs and the visitors got bundled out for only 122 runs, conceding their second-biggest defeat in their Test history, in terms of runs.
After the gigantic loss, legendary England batsman Geoffrey Boycott tore into Duckett for his statement.
In his column for The Telegraph, Boycott wrote, “Ben Duckett was full of himself after his wonderful innings of 153 saying ‘The more runs we have to chase the better’. After their second innings collapse and massive defeat, his comments should embarrass him. If you are going to boast, be outrageously cocky, even arrogant, then you have to back it up with deeds, not words.”
He added, “England’s players can talk all they want about being entertainers, but winning is better. So much guff comes out of their dressing room about attacking bowlers, imposing themselves on whatever the situation is and that they will chase any target.”
The fourth Test in Ranchi will start on Friday.
Also Read: Manoj Tiwary Asks MS Dhoni ‘Why Was I Dropped Despite Scoring A Century In 2011’
