Ben Duckett sparks Champions Trophy injury fears as miserable England tour of India reaches predictable end
India too good for the tourists again as they seal 3-0 ODI series victory in Ahmedabad
England signed off a miserable white-ball tour of India with a 3-0 one-day international series whitewash defeat and major concerns over an injury to Ben Duckett ahead of the Champions Trophy.
Duckett tweaked his groin towards the end of India’s 356 all out as a patched-up England missing the pace trio of Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton due to niggles toiled in sweltering conditions.
While Duckett batted and made an enterprising 34 off 22 balls as England were all out for 214 in 34.2 overs to lose by 142 runs, the sight of the opener limping badly will have been a worry.
Jos Buttler’s side go into their Champions Trophy on 22 February against Australia on the back of a heavy defeat to India in Ahmedabad – their seventh in eight matches on a chastening trip.
Questions about their work ethic were raised by Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen on commentary as they slumped to a 16th loss in their last 23 ODIs, though having to travel to a different city every three or four days has left little room to practice and improve on their deficiencies.
While Duckett and Phil Salt got England off to another flyer with a stand of 60 in 6.2 overs, they once again struggled to keep going and became bogged down by spin after the powerplay, with Tom Banton, on his first England appearance since January 2022, the joint top-scorer with 38 off 41 balls.
At one point, India were on course for a 400-plus total thanks to Shubman Gill’s classy 112 off 102 balls, in which he shared stands of 116 with Virat Kohli (52) and 104 alongside Shreyas Iyer (78).
Adil Rashid took four wickets for 64 runs to stunt the charge from 226 for two while Mark Wood also impressed, despite briefly being out of commission because of heat exhaustion after England again won the toss.
Wood’s first ball moved away and caught Rohit Sharma’s outside edge and his second just missed Kohli’s, but cranking up the pace proved taxing and he briefly left the field after a hostile four-over burst.
Joe Root was hooked after his two overs yielded 24 while the serene Gill persistently used his feet well, shimmying down the track and belting the ineffective Gus Atkinson for a 90-metre straight six.
Liam Livingstone was treated disdainfully by India’s pair, hoisted by both for sixes, although Kohli perished to Rashid for the fifth time in ODIs, feathering an edge to Salt from a big leg-break.
No impetus was lost as Iyer teamed up with Gill, who reached his ton by clipping the returning Wood through midwicket for his 14th four. One of only 10 batters to score an ODI double hundred, it might have got even worse for England but he missed a tired swipe off Rashid, yorked himself and was bowled.
Rashid wrestled back momentum as he strangled Iyer down leg and India lost wickets regularly from then on, although KL Rahul’s quickfire 40 and a few other cameos helped them past an ominous 350 total.
Duckett appeared to be struggling when he trudged off, and while he opened the batting his hobble grew more pronounced, though he still thrashed eight fours before miscuing Arshdeep Singh’s slower ball.
Salt was also undone by Arshdeep’s variation, although Banton, whose inclusion in England’s Champions Trophy squad as an injury replacement for Jacob Bethell was ratified by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday, had an eventful stay in his first 50-over match since August 2020.
He unfurled a switch hit and reverse sweep for sixes and was put down on seven by wicketkeeper Rahul, who made no mistake when Kuldeep Yadav found the outside edge with a googly.
Root and Buttler, each shifted down a position along with Harry Brook to accommodate Banton, were bowled via big inside edges by the parsimonious Axar Patel and Harshit Rana respectively.
When Brook under-edged Rana onto his stumps, England’s hopes disappeared, and only Atkinson belting 38 off 19 balls spared the tourists a record ODI defeat to their hosts.
It was a plucky knock from Atkinson, who bludgeoned six fours and a six, but he was the last man out.
PA