New Delhi: Opener Ben Duckett believes England will not hesitate to test India’s senior batters with the short ball if they feel it is the right tactic, even though the visitors know the challenge will be very different from the one they encountered during their 4-0 T20I sweep.England’s barrage of bouncers unsettled India’s youthful batting line-up in the T20Is, with the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ishan Kishan repeatedly targeted. Asked whether the same ploy could be used against the returning ODI stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, Duckett suggested England would remain flexible rather than abandon the idea altogether.“We will test them out. If they’re pretty good at it (playing the short ball), we probably won’t use the strategy as much. But I’ll be honest, I’m not sure, we might as well continue with it if we find it’s working,” Duckett said to a question posed by TOI during an interaction on the eve of the opening ODI. “Certainly, our plans as a bowling group will have the leadership of Brookie (Harry Brook) as a rallying point.”Besides India’s experienced ODI batting lineup, Duckett knows the English batsmen will have to be at their best while facing Jasprit Bumrah. Having faced the Indian spearhead only in Test cricket, the left-hander admitted the demands of the 50-over format make the contest an altogether different proposition.“There’re not many weaknesses (in Bumrah),” Duckett said. “It (tackling Bumrah) depends on if the ball is swinging or if the ball isn’t swinging as much. He obviously can swing the ball both ways close to 90 mile an hour, so hopefully it’s blue skies, no clouds and it doesn’t swing quite as much. That would be very helpful.”“He’s just the type of bowler that I imagine India will use throughout the innings to try and take wickets at all times and we will have to try and combat that. I’ve only faced him in Test cricket where you don’t ultimately have to look to score very fast. There’s no pressure to score whereas in 50-over cricket, you can’t look to survive him. You’ve still got to find ways to score off him. But I think our players have faced him enough and every individual will have different plans for him,” Duckett added.Despite England’s emphatic T20I success, Duckett was quick to point out that the ODI series will be a different examination altogether.“Obviously, it’s a different Indian side from the T20Is. They’ve brought in quite a few strong players, so we know that it’s going to be a really tough challenge. But a lot of our guys are playing well, so we do fancy our chances,” said Duckett.The return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, however, would not alter England’s approach, the England opener added. “Both (Virat and Rohit) are incredible players, but I don’t think we need to change our team dynamics significantly. We’ve got to stick to what we do and try to do it better than them. Ultimately, we’re not going to be fearing anyone when we go out there.”(This interaction was facilitated by Sony Sports)
