Rajkot Test, Day 3: 'They are wary of us,' chirps England batter Ben Duckett as India take mammoth lead

England opener Ben Duckett says India are wary of them in the ongoing third Test in Rajkot. Duckett's comments came after India sent Kuldeep Yadav to bat towards the end of day 3 (Feb 17) after Rajat Patidar was out. Kuldeep, nonetheless, did his job as India didn't lose anymore wicket to close the day on 196/2 with skipper Rohit Sharma being the other wicket to fall. Notably, Yashasvi Jaiswal also retired hurt but not before scoring 104.

"Them sending in a night-watchman shows they are wary of us," said Duckett at the end of play on Saturday. The England player, however, praised the Indian batters to come out all guns blazing to take India's lead to 322 with two more days to go in the Test after bowling England out for 319 in the first innings.

"Got to give credit to the way they played this evening, gave us nothing this morning, we tried to be attacking, didn't pay off," said Duckett.

The England batter was the fulcrum of team in the first innings, scoring 153 runs at more than run-a-ball.

"A lot more theory behind [my approach]. People might think [my range of sweeps] are reckless, but if they want to have people round the bat, I'll try to get rid of them," he added.

England started the day from their overnight score of 207/2 and were soon 260/5 with Kuldeep Yadav sending back Duckett and Jonny Bairstow while Jasprit Bumrah took the wicket of Joe Root. Skipper Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes then added 39 runs to take England into lunch on day 3 at 290/5.

Ravindra Jadeja then sent back Stokes (41) soon after lunch and Mohammed Siraj took three wickets from the rest four as England conceded a lead of 126 runs in the first innings. Apart from Siraj, Kuldeep and Jadeja took two wickets each while Bumrah took one with Ravi Ashwin not taking any further part in the game due to a family medical emergency.