Ben Duckett, the opening batsman for England, has refuted the claim that Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed is a mystery spinner, claiming that his team will make a big comeback in the second innings of the second Test, which is now taking place here.
On his Test debut, Abrar astounded the cricketing world by recording astounding figures of 7/114 in 22 overs and assisting Pakistan in dismissing England for 281 on Day 1. According to the ICC, his performance was the third-best bowling performance by a Pakistani bowler in an innings during their maiden Test.
Abrar claimed Duckett as one of his victims, who struck a 49-ball 63, but the debutant refused to be called a mystery spinner.
Duckett remarked in a Sky Sports interview: "I can only talk individually and I certainly had my ideas for him. There was nothing particularly mysterious about him; he was just a leg-spinner with a decent googly."
While praising the spinner, Duckett cautioned that England will attack him even more forcefully in the subsequent innings. He bowled wonderfully today, and while I'm sure we'll have ideas for the second innings, I'm very certain we won't be blocking it.
Abrar's subtle variations were picked up by the majority of England batters, according to Duckett, despite the spinner's effective bowling that day. "I believe that I swept roughly 90% of the time, and when you're sweeping, you don't always look for it, but his googly was much slower.
"In general, most of the guys actually said they did pick him. I think he just bowled some nice deliveries and unfortunately for us, it was his day," Duckett concluded.