India vs England | Jos Buttler replaces Ben Duckett in England’s middle-order
England skipper Alastair Cook has confirmed that wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler will replace Ben Duckett in the starting lineup for the third Test against India at Mohali. Cook, however, hoped that Duckett can work on his technical issue, which was exploited by R Ashwin, and come back stronger.
In a press conference ahead of the third Test at Mohali, which is scheduled to start
"Jos is an extremely talented cricketer. He's up there in top three-four short form players in the world. We're dealing with a very talented guy," Cook said, reported Reuters.
Buttler, who has struggled to make a name for himself in the longer format of the game, has made 15 appearances in Tests so far with a batting average of just 30. However, Cook believes that he “can do something special”.
"He has earned an opportunity to come and play here. It's clearly not ideal because of circumstances and he hasn't played a lot of red-ball cricket but sometimes when the pressure's off and you just go out and play, you can do something special," Cook added.
22-year-old Duckett, who was dropped after playing just four Test matches, has struggled in the subcontinent with his footwork. The southpaw has a tendency to stay on the leg-side of the ball instead of moving towards the ball, and this flaw has been exposed both in Bangladesh and in India. Cook, however, feels Duckett will be able to get back into the team soon.
"He won't be the only good player who has ever got dropped. He has an England future, there's no doubt about it. He has got an issue which unfortunately has been found out quite quickly, which can happen in this part of the world in international cricket.
"He can go and address that and come again because he's a very talented and exciting cricketer in all three forms. It's just a blip in his career and he will have to work at his game," he said.
Jonny Bairstow, despite Buttler's return, will continue with his wicket-keeping duties, and is also likely to move up the batting order.
"Jonny had a glint in his eye when I said 'we'd like you to move up to five'. It gives him more chance to bat. He bats at five and keeps at Yorkshire so he's used to that role. If everything was ideal we'd leave him at seven because it gives him a bit more time to recover but it gives him more time to bat with better batters," Bairstow said.