ENG vs IND | Twitter in awe as Rahul offers Akash assurance after innovative Duckett smacks three fours

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Love it or hate it, the revolution brought about in Test cricket by England under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes' tutelage cannot be ignored. The fearless approach took them into ascendancy against India at The Oval when Ben Duckett met a threatening Akash Deep with a scintillating counter-attack.

India lost four wickets for 20 runs on the morning of Day 2 at The Oval to be bowled out for 224 by England in the first innings of the fifth Test. Gus Atkinson was the pick of the pacers for the hosts with five scalps in his first appearance since December as he capitalized on overcast skies and a green top with immaculate lines and length. However, the performances ignited some hopes for the visitors given they had Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj in their ranks to try and replicate something similar. But before their dreams could take flight, Ben Duckett came crashing to the party and broke morale such that KL Rahul had to intervene to keep India believing.

Duckett set the tone early against Deep he survived a strong LBW appeal and a catching chance in the fourth over but still ended up reverse-hitting a length ball for six to finish the set. Nevertheless, the Bengal pacer came up with a stunning riposte in his next over as he completely squared up the opener with an away-moving jaffa. One would expect the delivery to be taking as a warning sign but Duckett made it clear who was calling the shots when he danced down the next delivery and used the slight width on offer to crash a boundary through cover. Akash stuck to his plans, and was met with the same treatment again a couple deliveries later to be viciously put under the pump. Little did the quick know Duckett wasn't done -- Akash tried to tamper his lines by going straighter, only to be clipped through the gap for yet another four.

Akash, unsurprisingly, had his head hung in shame but much to KL Rahul's credit, the veteran was on scene to cheer up the relative rookie. "Thik hai bhai, sab achha ball hi tha. Mar raha hai, koi problem nahi hai [It's fine brother, all balls were good only. He is being aggressive, there is no problem with it]," he piped, much to Twitterati's admiration.

Little encouragement

Apologise

Reversed it

Absolute garbage

Sold us a dream

He is not?

Crazy

Awful

The trio

This is Test

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