Courtesy: Star Sports
Former England player Kevin Pietersen has criticised Ben Duckett for saying that he doesn’t care if his team gets whitewashed at the hands of India in the ongoing bilateral series as soon as they go on to beat India in the Champions Trophy knockouts.
“Goodness me, it’s pretty poor that Duckett would say that he doesn’t care if England lose today and lose 3-0 to India. Context is important when reading quotes, but those words should NOT have been said! NEVER!,” wrote Pietersen on X.
Duckett had said England’s performance in the bilateral series won’t matter as his side will enter the Champions Trophy 2025 with positivity.
"We have come here for one thing and that is to win the Champions Trophy. If we lose 3-0 to India, I don't care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy. It's about peaking at the right time. We've been close against India and been nowhere near our best. We will always take positives," said the England opener while speaking to Sky Sports.
England suffer 0-3 whitewash in ODI series vs India
England suffered a humiliating 0-3 whitewash against India after losing the final ODI of the series by 142 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. English skipper Jos Buttler emerged victorious in the toss and put India to bat first. His decision backfired as the Men in Blue put up a colossal score of 356 runs on the board. Shubman Gill scored his sixth ODI ton and delivered an ideal start to his team. The youngster departed after hitting 112 off 102. Along with Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer also looked confident with their knocks of 52 (55) and 78 (64) respectively.
In the second innings, England got a ferocious start from Phil Salt and Ben Duckett but both failed to capitalise the momentum. Chasing the winning target, the visitors were bowled out for 214 runs in 34.2 overs. For India, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh took two wickets each, while Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav scalped a wicket each.
