Ton-up Ben Duckett puts England in control, propelling visitors to 207 for two

Ben Ducketts powerpacked hundred overshadowed R Ashwins monumental feat as England thrived on their belligerent Bazball tactic to reach 2072 at stumps on day two and put India under pressure in the IND vs ENG 3rd Test on FridayAshwin dismissed Zak Crawley 15 in the final session to join Anil Kumble as the second Indian and fifth overall to take 500 wickets in Test historyBut Indias struggles to contain Englands fearless and enterprising batters persisted as Duckett raced to his third Test hundred off only 88 ballsEngland have already wiped off a chunk of their first innings deficit and trail India by 238 runs going into day three India ended up with 445 in their first inningsAt one stage Duckett even flirted briefly with the prospect of breaking Gilbert Jessops record from 1902 for fastest Test ton 77 balls for his countryDuckett peppered the field with powerful strokes all around the ground hitting 21 fours and two sixes to reach 133 not out from only 118 balls Joe Root was at the other end on nineAshwin struck immediately after his introduction into the attack to send Crawley packing with the batter giftwrapping his wicket to help the Indian spinner complete his milestoneOn an innocuous delivery from around the wicket Crawley managed a connection that ballooned towards Rajat Patidar at short fine legPatidar only had to make a few paces on his left to grab the ball over his shoulder as each of Ashwins teammates rushed to celebrate the featThe diminutive England opener Duckett who looked a tad tentative outside the offstump before the tea break came out all guns blazing to bring up his first fifty of the tour in just 39 balls with 11 hits to the fenceThe introduction of spin did slow down Ducketts pace for a short while but he hit the top gear quickly to keep the Indian bowlers under pressureAlso ReadlsquoLight at the end of the tunnelrsquoA pivotal moment came in the 21st over from Bumrah in his second spell with the Indian spearhead nailing a perfect yorkerWith his front foot out of the way it appeared on the first instance that the ball crashed into the wicketsHowever umpire Kumar Dharmasena was not as convinced as the bowler got his captain to ask for DRS interventionThe replays showed Duckett had done incredibly well to connect with the ferocious yorker with the bottom of his batEach of the three DRS reviews per innings would weigh in gold if the pitch continues to be as placid as it has been for the first two days but this was a review which India would not have mind losingIndia took the second DRS against Ollie Pope when Mohammed Siraj deployed on shortball tactics pitched a fuller one to hit the padsUmpire Joel Wilson was unmoved but he had to overturn his appeal with the replays confirming that the ball was hitting the leg stump ending Popes entertaining 39 off 55 balls 5 fours and 1 sixAshwin returned for the final over of the day to have one more crack His fourth delivery turned sharply away from Duckett after pitching on leg and Rohit Sharma collected a catch believing there was an edgeHowever it culminated with replays showing the ball pitching outside leg and missing the bat completely with India staring at a long third day in the field with only one DRS appeal leftEarlier in the day Indias lower order did a fair job of collecting as many runs as possible before being bowled out for 445 in the IND vs ENG 3rd TestDebutant Dhruv Jurel 46 missed out on a fifty in his maiden outing The highlight of his knock was an uppercut off Mark Woods 146 kmph delivery which sent the ball flying into the stands over a helpless slip cordonJurel partnered with Ashwin 39 to add 77 runs for the eighth wicket which pushed India past the 400run mark while also steadying the ship after centurion Ravindra Jadeja 112 and Kuldeep Yadav 4 fell earlyBumrah 28 and Siraj 3 did their best in keeping England out on the park for longer with a quick 30run stand from 42 balls With agency inputs