India v England: Ben Duckett must reconsider his defensive technique, says Michael Atherton
Saturday 19 November 2016 11:33, UK
Ben Duckett must adjust his technique quickly after three very similar dismissals to off-spin in his short Test career, says Michael Atherton.
The left-hander was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin for just five as England slumped to 103-5 on day two of the second Test, still 352 runs shy of India's first innings total.
It is the second time in as many innings that Ashwin has removed the England No 4 while he was also bowled twice by teenage off-spinner Mehedi Hasan during the tour of Bangladesh, the first of which showed remarkable parallels to his latest wicket.
"It is amazing how quickly the game at the highest level presents challenges," Atherton told Sky Sports. "In his very first innings in Chittagong in Test cricket, he showed the off-spinner his stumps and paid the price, and he has done that twice here now.
"A fundamental principal of batting is that if you keep getting out in similar ways then you have to do something about it.
"He's got to look at that defensive technique to the off-spinner, he's got to keep his pad more in the line of the ball but play with his bat out in front of it so he's taking the lbw out of the equation.
"At the moment he is showing too much of his stumps and with two quality off-spinners, Ashwin - the No 1 bowler in the world - and Jayant Yadav, that's going to be a problem."
Joe Root was England's top performer with the bat, making 53, but the manner of his dismissal invited criticism as he was caught by the man halfway back to the boundary at mid off, attempting to go over the top.
However, Atherton believes Root was right to be positive and look to force the field back.
"He got it wrong but I don't think you can be overly critical of what he tried to do because if you just sit there and allow Inida's spinners to swarm all over you, you're not doing anything," explained the former England captain.
"You're not being proactive, you're not ticking the scoreboard over. What he is looking to do is get a boundary, get that man pushed back and then have the ability to turn over the strike.
"What we've always said is that two things are key: one your defence early on but secondly, you need to have boundary options to push the field back so you can then rotate the strike. He got the execution of the shot wrong but I wouldn't necessarily be critical of him trying to play it."
The risk did not pay off, though, and Atherton admitted England have it all to do if they are to salvage something from the Test match.
"Ten out of the last 14 Tests, India have batted first and when they have batted first they have really swarmed all over their opponents, getting big first innings runs and unleashing the spinners," he said.
"Only once in that time have the opposition got over 300. I don't like to say England are doomed but they've got a very difficult game ahead of them from here on in."
Live Test Cricket
Live coverage of the second Test between India and England continues on Saturday from 3.45am on Sky Sports 2 and across selected mobile devices, where you can follow the action on our over-by-over commentary and watch in-play clips.
