Injury-ravaged England are thrashed again by India as hosts seal ODI series whitewash with 142-run victory

Ben Duckett was clearly tempting fate when he said that a 3-0 whitewashing by India would be immaterial if he and his England team-mates turned the tables on their opponents in the final of the Champions Trophy next month.

Whether multi-format opener Duckett is now a part of England’s bid to win the eight-team tournament for the first time will be dependent on medical checks on Thursday on a groin injury he incurred fielding in this huge 142-run defeat.

The 30-year-old will be assessed at the start of a four-day break in Abu Dhabi amid fears he will be the second member of the batting unit ruled out this week.

England were forced to name Tom Banton in their 15-strong Champions Trophy squad, following a three-year international absence, after it was confirmed Jacob Bethell had tore a hamstring.

Injuries have come thick and fast at the end of a hectic schedule here in India that has limited the chances for both teams to train. With the players flying every third day, practice sessions have routinely been put aside for rest and recuperation, and rushing into the intensity of matches without sufficient practice has been viewed as a contributing factor to the glut of injuries.

It led television commentators Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen to question the England team’s work ethic – although a claim that they had only practised once all tour was wildly wide of the mark.

Jamie Overton was not risked here after picking up a couple of niggles while Brydon Carse is nursing a damaged big toe, but neither is in jeopardy when it comes to selection for the showdown with Ashes rivals Australia in Lahore a week on Saturday.

Jamie Smith also appears to have come through several fitness tests on a calf problem that has sidelined him for a fortnight here while Jofra Archer remained in the dugout here to allow a cut on his bowling hand to heal.

Should the news be more serious about Duckett, though, it will leave England’s hierarchy of Rob Key and Brendon McCullum, the director of cricket and head coach respectively, with a difficult decision to make.

They overlooked two centrally-contracted, top-order batsmen in Jonny Bairstow and Will Jacks to call up Banton, in addition to another on their list in Sam Curran, who has batted as high as five for his country in the past couple of years, and will find it more challenging to do so again.

On the field, this was the first time on the eight match tour that England dismissed India. Unfortunately, though, the world’s number one-ranked team piled up 356.

After winning his fifth toss in a row, Jos Buttler said his change of tack in fielding first was because of the prospect of dew making it difficult for bowlers to grip the ball later in the match and England needing to be exposed to chasing ahead of the Champions Trophy starting next week.

With the afternoon temperature in the early 30s, however, it also presented a physical challenge and fast bowler Mark Wood, who dismissed Sunday’s centurion Rohit Sharma with his first ball, eventually returned figures of 9-1-45-2 after being forced off after his initial four-over burst because of the effects of the heat.

Adil Rashid was the other England bowler to come out of the series finale with credit, making Virat Kohli his 400th international wicket with the first of his four dismissals for 64 runs – his best figures in his last 22 innings in this format.

But the rest of the attack struggled to counter the sapping nature of the sun, with Gus Atkinson conceding in excess of nine and over for the second game in a row.

It was something of a surprise that the Surrey seamer took his place in the XI as England coach Brendon McCullum said earlier in the tour that Archer would play two of the three one-day internationals.

As it was, the return to England colours of Tom Banton for Overton was the only change to the side that lost a second successive match by four wickets last Sunday.

Duckett, sufficiently impaired for running between the wickets to be visibly uncomfortable, took such a course of action out of the equation, beginning with a flurry of fours.

Bristling with intent, England hurtled to 84, the best powerplay total of the series, but it was the departure of both openers in close proximity once again that stymied progress.

Both Duckett and Phil Salt fell trying to go aerial against Arshdeep Singh, and the pairing of spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav together from the17th over then sent the innings into meltdown.

Banton, shrugging off the lack of a pre-match new, fell soon after drinks were taken at 115 for two, for a joint-top score of 38, but an all-too-familiar inability to negotiate the middle overs saw England lose for a 16th time in 23 ODIs.