Opener Ben Duckett believed that England's first innings total of 246 was above par and said they were not expecting Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma to play belligerent cricket from the word go on the first day of the first Test on Thursday.
At stumps, India were placed at 119 for one with Jaiswal making a quick, unbeaten 76 and he shared a fine 80-run stand with Rohit in just 12.2 overs. "I think we're over par.
It was a tricky Day 1 pitch with consistent spin from earlier on. Stokes was fantastic. I just said come down Day 3, Day 4, that could be a match winning knock if that pitch keeps getting harder to bat on," said Duckett in the post-day press meet.
Duckett was quick to give credit to the Indian openers for producing a rollicking stand, and also considered it as a hint to the gradually deteriorating nature of the pitch. "Credit to them.