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Ben Duckett responds to ‘dumb cricket’ criticism of England’s T20 worldwide win over India – forward of the essential penultimate conflict within the sequence for Brendon McCullum’s aspect

  • England lost the toss and were forced to defend when the dew was heaviest
  • Spinner Varun Chakravarthy took five for 24 as the hosts threatened to collapse
  • But Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone’s partnership fired the tourists to victory 

England risked being dismissed as Dumbslog Millionaires before delivering what Ben Duckett suggests could be the defining moment of their white-ball reset.

With the Twenty20 series against India on the line, Liam Livingstone’s decision to blitz Rajkot’s boundary in response to the tourists being reduced to 127 for eight, slapping three sixes in four balls, reinforced the positive messaging of Brendon McCullum.

And surged England towards their first win under McCullum as multi-format coach.

‘I imagine halfway through our innings people would have been saying it was dumb cricket and it wasn’t going to work, but we ended up winning by 26 runs because we bat so far down and we can go out and play as aggressively as we do,’ said Duckett, ahead of Friday’s penultimate match of five.

‘A lot of teams might have scrambled to 140-150 there and lost the game. When Livi hit those three sixes in the over, momentum suddenly changed.

‘We want opposition teams to be thinking that the game’s not done. Like they don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Liam Livingstone hit five sixes in his 43 off 24 balls to help fire England to a 26-run win over India

Liam Livingstone hit five sixes in his 43 off 24 balls to help fire England to a 26-run win over India

Ben Duckett (left) believes England's tactics make it hard for opponents to rest easy

Ben Duckett (left) believes England’s tactics make it hard for opponents to rest easy

The bold strategy reinforced the positive messaging of England's coach Brendon McCullum (right)

The bold strategy reinforced the positive messaging of England’s coach Brendon McCullum (right)

‘And I think it’s a big moment for this team, because, as I said, it could have gone a different way. Credit to the guys for doing exactly what Baz wants us to go and do: entertain.

‘At times it’s not going to work, and that’s fine, but we could easily be 2-1 up in the series if things had gone a little bit better for us at the back end of the second game.

‘We’ve been nowhere near our best and yet we’re not far off being up in a series against a very good side, so, if we can string a full game together it will be incredibly exciting to watch.’

Duckett, opening in T20 internationals for the first time in nearly six years, justified McCullum’s belief that he could get England off to rapid starts by hitting a 26-ball 50 as India’s lead was cut to 2-1 on Tuesday evening.

However, world champions India have not lost back to back Twenty20 internationals for 18 months and not done so at home since June 2022.

England will be forced into a change with Jamie Smith being monitored by medical staff after succumbing to calf discomfort four overs into India’s chase in Rajkot, with Jacob Bethell set to return.

Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh returns after resting for the middle match of the series, needing two wickets to become the first Indian bowler to a century of Twenty20 international wickets.