- By Namrata Vijay
- Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:56 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs ENG 1st Test: England's star opener Ben Duckett lauded his change in mindset for making a brilliant comeback to the longest format as he scored a brilliant hundred and helped the team win the first Test match against India. Duckett's brilliant knock of 149 runs helped England chase the mammoth target of 371 runs and helped the team win the series opener by five wickets.
This knock was another highlight in Duckett's career ever since he made a comeback to England's Test side in December 2022.
During his comeback as a Test cricketer, he has represented England in 30 matches and has scored 2511 runs at a staggering average of 47.37 and a brilliant strike rate of 88.
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Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain showered huge praises on Duckett for his brilliant performance in Leeds and described him as the best multi-format batter in the world.
Duckett gave the credit of his successful outing with the bat to his change in mentality as he was earlier slammed for getting dismissed easily by playing some rash shots.
“My mindset personally is a bit different to what it has been over the last couple of years. Potentially there’s a bit of maturity kicking in. Playing more Test matches, and learning from mistakes, is number one. Failures are easy to make changes and learn from, rather than just when you do well" Duckett told reporters during the post-match press conference.
Facing World’s Best
Jasprit Bumrah, who is currently the world's best Test pacer, went wicketless during England's second innings as Duckett played a huge role in countering Bumrah.
“It was pretty obvious Jasprit was a big threat of theirs. It was about realizing whenever he came on it was going to be a short, sharp burst, trying to see him off and not necessarily playing any big shots. It’s just realizing that and taking the ego out of things. When he’s coming on it’s to get the breakthrough, get me out, and if you get through that period it gets easier" he added.
Zak Crawley played the role of second fiddle, as he too scored a gritty knock of 65 runs and stitched a match-winning partnership of 188 runs with Duckett for the first wicket and helped the host lead the five-match Test series by 1-0, before the second Test match which would be held at Edgbaston next week.
Crawley, who was criticized for his position in the playing XI after registering a few low scores against teams like New Zealand, made a brilliant comeback by scoring a hundred against Zimbabwe during a one-off Test match held in May this year. His half-century in Leeds became even more special considering the kind of bowlers that he faced and the match situation that he was in.
“The leadership of this team doesn’t talk about these things – if my place was under pressure they certainly wouldn’t tell me. But I wasn’t playing how I wanted to play in the winter and I feel a lot better about my game now" Crawley told broadcasters during the post-match presentation.