Duckett's knock summed up the team perfectly - Wood

Mark Wood heaped praise on Ben Duckett's innings that flipped the momentum of the third Test in Rajkot. The English opener slammed an unbeaten 133, taking the attack to the Indian bowlers in the second half of the second day after India finished with 445.

En route Duckett's blistering knock, he became the fastest English centurion in Tests against India as he reached the mark in only 88 balls. He did the bulk of the scoring, adding 89 runs for the opening wicket with Zak Crawley (15) and 93 with Ollie Pope (39) for the second wicket.

"For someone like Ducky to play the way he did, that was honestly amazing. He tinkered with the field," Wood said after the second day's play on Friday. "They put the man behind so he hit it in front, the moved him in front so he hit it behind. It was amazing to watch. The skill level and how brave it was to take on a quality attack like that when we were 445 behind, to play that freely, that is what the team is about and the way he played summed it up perfectly."

Wood credited Duckett for taking full advantage of the flat wicket and a fast outfield on offer at the venue. " I think he played with real bravery. To be that far behind in the game and go out and play like that showed real bravery and skill. The way India changed the field and then he'd hit it somewhere else, it was such a skilful innings against a good attack. He's a nightmare to bowl at in the nets, we try to get him to leave one but he never leaves any."

It was the sixth time in seven innings in the ongoing series that the English opening pair managed to post a 50-plus score. However, Duckett, on his second tour to India, hadn't fully stamped his domination in these conditions previously. It was his first fifty-plus score in the country.

"Everyone is delighted for him," Wood admitted. "No one sees those starts, we see him and Zak going out and putting pressure on the opposition. The main thing about this series is can we at time put pressure back on and Ducky certainly did that with some remarkable shots. I couldn't believe how clean he hit the ball. It wasn't just luck. He was deliberately hitting there and really smashing it. It was so good to watch.

"I'm delighted, the way him and Zak go out together and put pressure on the opposition. Maybe he hasn't gotten the accolades that he would like with big scores but this was his day and it was amazing to watch, especially as a bowler that's just bowled plenty of overs. It's a rapid outfield and we certainly felt it was tough to contain and Ducky really took it on and played in an aggressive fashion to put the pressure back on India."

Wood himself was impressive with the ball, returning four wickets in the innings. His double burst early on in the opening day put the hosts on the back foot after they had elected to bat, and couldn't maximise the advantage on the pitch. He then removed the centurion Rohit Sharma, before adding one more to his tally to end India's innings on the second day. India were bowled out for 445, which Wood is not sure whether it's a good enough total that they managed to restrict the hosts to, or not.

"I don't know, we never really speak about it. We just talk about how we're trying to get those wickets, we don't talk about average scores. It felt like a long innings, there was a period of play where India didn't really go anywhere, the game stayed the way it was. They weren't scoring fast runs but we weren't getting any wickets so the game just stayed where it was. There were other parts of play where they were getting a bit too many runs here and we needed a wicket. It was a bizarre day, it almost felt like we should be getting more wickets but then the game's not going anywhere.

"Personally, I would have liked to have gone for less runs; yes, my role is to be attacking and try to get wickets but sometimes I felt like I maybe leaked a bit too much. But I'm delighted that I got four wickets."

Even as England have piled on 207 runs for the loss of two wickets in the 35 overs of play, trailing by 238 runs, Wood believes the match is still in balance with the scales likely to tilt on the basis of how it pans out on Saturday morning.

"The game is right in the balance. They will be thinking if they get wickets they are on top, if we get another partnership we will be on top. It's very much in the balance. It needs a bit of perspective at the end of the day. It was hard toil on that wicket. We certainly felt that as a bowling group, so wait until both teams have batted. Now we feel like we're right amongst it."