Nasser Hussain kicks aside Rohit Sharma, declares England star as best modern-day Test opener

Former England National Cricket Team skipper Nasser Hussain has showered rich praise on the 29-year-old English opener Ben Duckett for playing an attacking brand of cricket for the team at the top of the order and even labeled him as the best modern-day Test opener.

Ben Duckett has emerged as one of the batters batters under the regime of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and he has played stunning knocks in Test cricket.

The opening batsman has showcased his true batting prowess and played with aggressive intent in all types of conditions to make sure his team gets off to a great start.

After 26 matches his strike rate stands at 86.18, which shows how attacking he can get, and he has done that consistently, averaging 40.46 in the longest format of the game.

On Day 1 of the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Kennington Oval in London, Ben Duckett played exceptional innings and hit 86 runs off 79 balls. Ben Duckett also smashed 9 fours and 2 sixes in his innings before being dismissed by Milan Rathnayake.

This knock by Ben Duckett impressed Nasser Hussain a lot as the former England captain lavished praise on the batter in his latest column for Daily Mail.

Nasser Hussain admitted that Sri Lankan bowlers weren't at their best in the game, but said that Ben Duckett didn't let them settle and labeled him as the heart of the bazball approach.

“Let’s be honest, Sri Lanka were poor. It was almost like they’d never bowled to a left-hand, right-hand combination before, but Duckett never let them settle at all. They kept bowling on the legs early on, or even outside the line of the pads, and then when they over-corrected, they were short and wide. Where does Duckett like the ball the most? Short and wide outside off-stump. He put them to the sword.”

“Later, after the rain delay, he started scooping and upper-cutting fours and sixes. Yes, scooping was his downfall in the end, but so be it, because it is his role in the side. I like his attitude because there have been plenty of opening batters before him that have come unstuck when not playing shots.”

"Sometimes coaches over-talk. One of yesteryear might have asked: why did you play that shot? A hundred was there for the taking. Not Brendon McCullum, though. They have an ingrained attitude to risk-taking, and Duckett is at the heart of it,” wrote Nasser Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Saturday.

There is literally daylight between him and the rest - Nasser Hussain hails Ben Duckett

Nasser Hussain further praised Duckett for playing his shots, even when the bowlers bowl outside off-stump. He stated that he is way better than all the former English openers as well as the modern-day openers when it comes to playing shots and not leaving deliveries. Nasser Hussain elaborated:

“By the time he had added 86 runs to his tally, Duckett had swelled his tally of balls played at this series to 197 of 198. Contrast that to players like Graham Gooch and Michael Atherton, two more predecessors as England openers who would ignore deliveries outside off-stump and make the bowlers bowl in areas they wanted them to. Or compare Duckett to any other modern Test opener for that matter. There is literally daylight between him and the rest.”

"His career leave percentage is 1.7%, making him nearly five times as likely to play than Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique, the next man on the list with 8.3%. India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal is next with 8.9%. Also consider that Dom Sibley and Rory Burns, two of the openers in the previous England regime, boasted 25.3% and 21.5% respectively.”

“When everything is in the bowlers’ favour, that is exactly how the England team management want him, Duckett to play – putting pressure back on the opposition. Leaving might be a high percentage choice for others. Not him. He always sticks to his guns," Nasser Hussain further stated.

Talking about the England vs Sri Lanka third Test, the Three Lions finished Day 1 at the score of 221 for 3 in 44.1 overs with Ollie Pope (103) and Harry Brook (8) in the middle.