Jasprit Bumrah was extremely hard to face but we minimised the damage: Ben Duckett

India Today

England opener Ben Duckett said Jasprit Bumrah was the best fast bowler in the world and extremely tough to face at Headingley, but he and Ollie Pope managed to find a way to tackle him in the first Test.

Transcript

00:00Hi there. If we could start with Lolly Pult's century. You were out there for a good bit.

00:05What does it say of Lolly that he got a century against Bulls in that quarter today?

00:10Yeah, I just think he was so calm coming out.

00:14You know, he probably couldn't walk out in tougher conditions with Jasper running down the hill with the lights on.

00:19So, you know, I think at one point he was runnable 50 or around that.

00:24So, you know, it was great batting with him. I always have a good time out there in the middle with him

00:29and, yeah, goosebumps when he got to 100. You know, you could see what it meant to him.

00:34He's such a big part of this dressing room and it was just great to see him be there 100 not out.

00:39Yeah, did it look like it really meant a lot to him and it meant a lot to you guys for him as well?

00:44Yeah, of course it did. You know, we're very good at keeping things in the dressing room,

00:49but, you know, obviously you can hear the noise from outside of it and, you know,

00:54Popey can't start the summer any better scoring 170 and then beating 100 not out in the conditions today.

01:00So, we're obviously very delighted for him.

01:02Having faced it as well out there, can you sum up how good Pumper was today and always?

01:08Yeah, he's the best bowler in the world. He's, you know, he's extremely hard to face.

01:14He's good in any conditions, you know, he's good in India on the flattest pitches ever.

01:18And, you know, when he's coming in down the hill with the lights on and it's swinging both ways,

01:23it's tough and I feel like we minimised the damage early on.

01:27You know, it could have been a lot worse today.

01:29So, I think we're pretty happy in the position we're in.

01:32And just a word to help, Josh, you wrap things up nice and quick and mid-ture.

01:37I guess you'd fit someone's hand up to get under 500 at one point.

01:41Yeah, it was until those dark clouds were rolling in.

01:43But, Tungy's great. I've seen him do that for knots a lot.

01:47He's got the extra pace, the X factor about him.

01:49And, you know, I've seen him kind of, I call him the mop, but mopping up the tails at the end.

01:55And it's exactly what you want when you've been in the field for 120 overs.

01:58You know, there's nothing more frustrating than, you know, 9, 10, 11 chipping him with runs

02:03and putting him on partnership.

02:05Will?

02:06Ben, what have you been saying about all these characters that they've been able to block out?

02:10I've noticed that you mentioned, you know, he can't quite avoid it,

02:13but he's managed to block out his solid two overs, isn't it?

02:16Yeah, I mean, strong, you know, I don't know what's inside Popey's head,

02:20but I think he's just stayed true to the way that he plays.

02:24And, you know, there's no better feeling than that.

02:28You know, scoring 100 against that attack, you know, coming out in the first over,

02:33where we fall for one, you know, you could just see it in the way that he celebrated.

02:39And it didn't just mean a lot to him, it meant a huge amount in the dressing room as well.

02:45Front head?

02:46Yeah.

02:47Ben, was there a conscious call at the very start that you will take on just with Boomerang?

02:50Because you kept on playing, you know, for overs and overs, and you, you know,

02:54tried to take him on also, there were boundaries also, I think, by you.

02:57So, was that a conscious call or it was just the flow of the game?

03:00And what do you think the good score here means?

03:04What do you guys are targeting for at this point of time?

03:07No, I actually didn't really want to target him.

03:10It felt like, you know, trying to minimise the damage for him.

03:14I think I even left the ball to him, so that showed my intent.

03:17You know, he's just a world-class bowler and you can't let someone like him just bowl.

03:24You know, he's too good for that.

03:26You've got to still try and put him under pressure and try and put the bad balls away.

03:30And then I think on a total, you know, who knows?

03:34It just depends on, we've had some incredible days as a dressing room

03:39and, you know, if we can get a couple of guys in on that pitch tomorrow,

03:43if the sun's out, you've seen when India batted how quickly you can score.

03:47I think the main focus is to win that first session.

03:50If we can walk in at lunch and, you know, we've won the morning session,

03:54you know, it certainly sets things up a bit better.

03:57One more here and then we'll finish with Steph at the back.

03:59Hi, Ben.

04:00Hi, please for Bhumra, first of all.

04:03What is the difference between facing Bhumra and facing Siraj and Prasip Krishna today?

04:07If you can explain that a bit, how different were these two in front of Bhumra?

04:13And, of course, how did you compose yourself after getting dropped by that group?

04:18Yeah, I mean, I think with Jasper, it's, you know, first of all,

04:23how unique his run-up is.

04:25You're obviously waiting and waiting for him to get there.

04:29And I think just his ability to bowl three or four different balls with no cue.

04:35You know, there's no...

04:37You don't know he's bowling a bouncer or a slower baller or a yorker or a away swinger or an in-swinger

04:42until it comes out of his hand, really.

04:44You know, he's got such a fast wrist.

04:46You know, so that's why you've got to watch the ball so hard with him.

04:50That's the difference, really.

04:51I think other bowlers, you can maybe see out the hand if they're bowling a wobble ball

04:55or an away swinger or something.

04:57But it's just, yeah, very difficult to pick it up with Jasper.

05:02And that's...

05:03Well, I was just very happy to be out there, especially with...

05:07Jadeja doesn't drop many, I don't think.

05:09So, yeah, I was very thankful to him.

05:12Stefan, last one, please.

05:14When there is noise, even if it's just created by those guys,

05:18and you say, you know, it's hard to ignore,

05:20how do you guys respond in the group?

05:23You can't ignore it.

05:24Are you on eggshells around a particular player?

05:26Do you get around them?

05:28How do you treat it?

05:30Well, I mean, it depends, I guess, in different situations,

05:34but there's noise outside of addressing them,

05:38but there's no noise in it.

05:40So I guess that's the way.

05:41You know, we're not having discussions in the dressing room

05:44about who's going to play it.

05:45It's been pretty clear coming into this test match,

05:47if a bloke scores 170 a few weeks ago,

05:50he's going to play this game.

05:52That's just how it was.

05:53And, you know, I think individually, it's how you deal with that.

05:57You know, as a dressing room, I think we're very good at,

06:00you know, if someone needs to get around him, we'll do that.

06:03If someone needs to be left alone, we'll do the same.

06:06But, you know, what's been going through Popey's head

06:09for the last few weeks, I don't know.

06:11But, you know, to be told two or three days out that you're playing

06:14is probably a good thing for him.

06:16You're not waiting until the day before,

06:17and you can train the way you want to train.

06:19But I just think it's an individual thing on how you go about doing that.

06:25And, you know, the way Popey's dealt with that,

06:28it's just been, you know, superb.

06:30And just some...

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