"Shows just how well Duckett has played him" - Nasser Hussain lauds England star for tackling India bowler in ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has lauded Ben Duckett for tackling Ravindra Jadeja the way he did in the first Test against Team India in Leeds. Hussain compared Duckett's approach against Jadeja with Ben Stokes, given the latter has fallen to the left-arm spinner seven times in Tests.
Duckett's 149 proved to be the catalyst for England's five-wicket victory over India, propelling his side to a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series. The southpaw tackled Jadeja well, with the latter also delivering an underwhelming performance on a day five surface despite the rough outside off-stump assisting him.
In his column on The Daily Mail, the 57-year-old stated that Stokes will not find a better man than Duckett to learn to counter Jadeja. He wrote:
"Ben Stokes revealed after the first Test that, during the tea interval on the final day, he asked Ben Duckett for advice on how to play Jadeja. The England captain is a very smart cricketer and is always looking to improve. And there is nobody better in his dressing room to ask about facing Jadeja than Duckett. The left-handed opener has faced Jadeja in five Tests and has never been dismissed by him, while Stokes has fallen to him seven times. It is an incredible stat and shows just how well Duckett has played him."
Hussain observed that his fellow teammates in Joe Root and Harry Brook tackle the lengths from spinners well by crouching, adding:
"Stokes (6ft) is also a fabulous player of spin, but Joe Root and Harry Brook – who are both tall lads – get lower in their stance than Stokes, with a lower back lift and they pick up the length really well. The way Stokes got out to Jadeja at Headingley in the second innings, though, was more a case of the wrong shot selection. He rightly went to that shot again against Jadeja because they initially only had one man out on the off-side boundary."
Reflecting on Stokes' dismissal, Hussain claimed that the left-hander had an array of shots other than the reverse sweep, continuing:
But then India changed the field, and they put two men catching behind square." Once they made that subtle change, I thought Stokes should have stopped playing that shot. When you are reverse-sweeping out of the rough with three men on the off-side behind square, one on the boundary and two catching, the percentages are not in your favour."
He further wrote:
"I thought Stokes could have gone to the multitude of other shots he has got – the normal sweep, hit it down the ground for one, get outside off stump and work it to leg, or just kick it out of the rough."
When Stokes was dismissed for a useful 33, the hosts had succumbed to 302/5, still 69 away from victory. However, Root and Jamie Smith hardly gave the tourists any sniff and carried England easily to victory. Smith also hit the winning six.
"Could not believe how long it took him to change the way he bowled" - Nasser Hussain on Ravindra Jadeja
Hussain observed that Jadeja kept missing the rough to Duckett and instead bowled straight, thereby getting no purchase. He wrote (via the aforementioned source):
"There is plenty for Jadeja to ponder as well. I could not believe how long it took him to change the way he bowled on the final day at Headingley. The rough wasn’t extensive to the left-hander, but it was fairly wide and full and yet Jadeja bowled relatively straight to Duckett. He kept missing the rough."
He believes Jadeja threatened Stokes enough and took his wicket, but England had smelt victory by then. Hussain added:
"It is different in India when the pitches turn more, but in England you have to look to find where that rough is and he didn’t find it against Duckett. At tea, they must have had a chat because he bowled fuller and wider against Stokes. He made it a real challenge for Stokes, but it was too little, too late."
The hosts have announced an unchanged XI for the second Test in Birmingham.