Why Is Ben Duckett Not Opening The Batting For England In 1st Test vs Pakistan?
Ben Duckett- (Source: @Johns/X.com)
In the ongoing first Test match between Pakistan and England at the Multan Stadium, the Three Lions have finally managed to bowl out Pakistan after nearly bowling for two straight days.
Pakistan, batting first, put 556 runs on the board. In reply, England came to with a new opening pair. Notably, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley came out to bat instead of Crawley and Ben Duckett.
Why Did Ben Duckett Not Open The Innings For England?
It is worth noting that Duckett suffered a thumb injury on the last ball of the first innings, which forced England to try out a new combination at the top. On the final ball of the 149th over, England were in search of the last breakthrough, which is when Joe Root applied his brain and tricked Abrar Ahmed with a sharp bouncer.
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The bowler was taken aback by the bizarre tactic and the underedge went straight to the first slip where Ben Duckett was placed. Unfortunately, the ball hit straight at the tip of Duckett's left thumb and the southpaw rushed to the dugout holding his arm and signalling to the physios to attend him.
Seriousness Of Ben Duckett's Injury
At the time of writing this article, the seriousness of Duckett's injury is yet to be known. However, the decision to send Ollie Pope to open the innings backfired as the England skipper departed for a two-ball duck. He did not do anything wrong with the bat, but Aamer Jamal took a breathtaking diving one-handed catch to draw the first blood for Pakistan.
At the time of writing this article, England are 20/1 after 6.3 overs and have been affected by the wicket as they are not playing their usual brand of aggressive cricket.
.jpg "Ollie Pope departs!")
.jpg "Joe Root's lethal bumper")
 "Abhinav Tyagi")
