‘There’s going to be nothing that surprises me’: Ben Duckett on facing Jasprit Bumrah in upcoming five-match IND vs ENG Test series | Cricket News
India will face England in the upcoming English summer for a five-match Test series. While there are plenty of mouth-watering narratives the most appealing one would be how the England batting would react to Jasprit Bumrah with the Indian pacer has been setting new standards in fast bowling in recent times.
Nevertheless, England opener Ben Duckett believes that nothing from Bumrah is going to surprise the batter. “I’ve faced him in a five-Test series before. I know what he’s going to do to me, and the good thing about that is I know what skills he has,” said Duckett, speaking to Daily Mail.
“There’s going to be nothing that surprises me. It’s going to be challenging, and the red-ball skills of Mohammed Shami are just as threatening as Bumrah. But if I can get through that opening spell, I feel there are runs to be had,” he added.
Story continues below this ad
England have toured India in 2024 and have lost the series 4-1 after winning the first Test in Hyderabad. Bumrah played a pivotal part for India in winning the series. He picked 19 wickets at an average of 16.89. One of his famous spells came in this series when he picked up 6/45 in Visakhapatnam on a flat pitch to turn the tide of the Test match and series.
Fitness is a concern
Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond has advised that India should not play Bumrah for ‘more than two Tests in a row’ during this summer’s tour to England.
“They may say, look, it’s four Test matches in total. Or three. If we can get him through the English summer and he’s fit, we can probably then go with some confidence that we can carry him across the rest of the formats. So that’s hard because he is your best bowler, but if he has another injury in the same spot, that could be a career-ender, potentially, because I’m not sure you can have surgery on that spot again,” Bond said speaking to ESPNcricinfo.
