Watch: Shubman Gill took an excellent catch to end Ben Duckett’s resistance on Day One in Dharamshala, running back and diving on the ground to make the first breakthrough for India.
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England managed to get through the first hour and a half unscathed after opting to bat first in Dharamshala. Under difficult conditions which produced prodigious movement for India’s seamers, Zak Crawley and Duckett managed to survive the opening burst. Kuldeep Yadav was brought on in the 18th over of the day to replace Mohammed Siraj, and the change looked to give England more opportunities to score early on.
Crawley picked up a four off Kuldeep’s first delivery, taking advantage of a misfield from R Ashwin at backward point to pick up his sixth boundary of the day. Duckett took the strike for Kuldeep’s fourth delivery and hit a googly straight through mid on for another boundary. After playing out a dot for the fifth delivery, Duckett’s eyes lit up for the final ball of the over.
He looked to launch the delivery into the leg side but only managed to get a leading edge. The ball ballooned up towards cover, with Gill turning and running back to get underneath the ball. He just managed to get there, arms outstretched and safely gathering the ball before tumbling to the ground.
He threw the ball away immediately in celebration, Duckett returning to the dressing room for an uncharacteristic 27 off 58.
Watch: Shubman Gill takes excellent catch to dismiss Ben Duckett below
Shubman Gill 👏👏👏#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/gXHpUu2ha9
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) March 7, 2024
