Leeds, Jun 24 (PTI) Indian bowlers’ efforts to gain an early upper hand was thwarted by Ben Duckett’s doughty unbeaten fifty as England cruised to 117 for no loss at lunch on the final day of the first Test here on Tuesday.
Chasing a tough 371 for victory, England were served by Duckett (64) and Zak Crawley (42) at the break with the hosts still 254 runs adrift of the target.
Besides Bumrah, the other Indian pacers — Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur — were erratic and gave enough freebies for England batters, who were more than happy to oblige.
The best moment for the Indian bowling unit, of course, was produced by Bumrah when he beat the defence of Duckett with a lovely off-cutter.
Unfortunately, the second line pacers did not come anywhere close to create their own moment of magic, and remained ordinary.
Duckett and Crawley, who have together amassed over 2000 runs as Test openers, pounced on anything short or full to essay cuts, pulls and drives as England innings gained considerable steam, milking 96 runs in the first session after resuming from an overnight 21 for no loss.
The home batters’ plan was quite evident — play out Bumrah without taking much risks and put other Indian quicks under pressure.
Duckett led this ploy from front and his full-frontal cover drive off Prasidh, perhaps, stood out as the shot of the morning.
The support pacers were unimaginative with their lengths, and it was not really a surprise to see bowling coach Morne Morkel coming out and having a word with them from the boundary ropes.
On other hand, Crawley gave good support to Duckett, standing a foot outside the crease to nullify swing, and he also played with a full face of the bat.
Bumrah could have had him on 42, but the Indian talisman could not grab a return catch despite making a desperate dive.
Ravindra Jadeja was introduced to give a different pace to the proceedings but the Headingley pitch, which was rolled using the heavy roller, did not offer him the desired assistance in the shape of turn or bounce.
India will require to find better lines and lengths in the second session with the rather uneasy memories of England chasing down 378 at Birmingham three years ago resurfacing.
