ENG vs IND | Twitter in splits as Yashasvi requests Duckett for reverse sweeps on Friendship Day

India took to the field on Day 4 of the fifth Test at The Oval chasing eight wickets to return to India with a drawn series while the hosts needed 324 runs to chase down history. Ben Duckett was earmarked as the apparent key to their efforts, given it was the opener's 149 in the second Test at Headingley that had led England in a chase of 371 to begin the series with a win. It was only fitting that the opener had a similar role at hand in the final Test too, having already racked up 34 runs on Day 1, but an enthralling spell of bowling was not the only challenge Duckett had at hand on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep were able to extract plenty of the deck in the morning, making run-scoring signifcantly difficult for both Ollie Pope and Duckett. However, the later was largely content with absorbing pressure, only throwing hands at width on occassion but sticking to the textbook when it came to shot-making. It was a stark departure from his approach in the first innings where he had exhibited a range of scoops and reverse-hits to bamboozle the Indian quicks, and Yashasvi Jaiswal made sure to highlight the lack of courage in Duckett's latst display.

"This is not your game man, show some shots. I want to see your reverse sweep, why do you keep defending? There's no point," Yashasvi chirped from up close.

However, Duckett kept his bearings to respond with a quier promise of "later", albeit it never materialized even as the 30-year-old brought up a 16th half-century in Test cricket. Twitterati was relieved it at least got some wholesome on-fieldminteractions out of the composed knock.

India took to the field on Day 4 of the fifth Test at The Oval chasing eight wickets to return to India with a drawn series while the hosts needed 324 runs to chase down history. Ben Duckett was earmarked as the apparent key to their efforts, given it was the opener's 149 in the second Test at Headingley that had led England in a chase of 371 to begin the series with a win. It was only fitting that the opener had a similar role at hand in the final Test too, having already racked up 34 runs on Day 1, but an enthralling spell of bowling was not the only challenge Duckett had at hand on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep were able to extract plenty of the deck in the morning, making run-scoring signifcantly difficult for both Ollie Pope and Duckett. However, the later was largely content with absorbing pressure, only throwing hands at width on occassion but sticking to the textbook when it came to shot-making. It was a stark departure from his approach in the first innings where he had exhibited a range of scoops and reverse-hits to bamboozle the Indian quicks, and Yashasvi Jaiswal made sure to highlight the lack of courage in Duckett's latst display.

"This is not your game man, show some shots. I want to see your reverse sweep, why do you keep defending? There's no point," Yashasvi chirped from up close.

However, Duckett kept his bearings to respond with a quier promise of "later", albeit it never materialized even as the 30-year-old brought up a 16th half-century in Test cricket. Twitterati was relieved it at least got some wholesome on-fieldminteractions out of the composed knock.

Getting spicy

Audio on

Interesting move

Yup

Want to see sweep

Heated

Sledge

Let's see

Interesting

Not skills?

I think so

It is