India v England: Ben Duckett century amazing to watch - Mark Wood

Ben Duckett played four Tests in 2016 before spending six years out of the side

Pace bowler Mark Wood praised Ben Duckett's "amazing" 133 not out that led England's counter-attack on day two of the third Test against India.

Duckett crashed an 88-ball century, leading England to 207-2 in Rajkot, 238 behind India's 445.

"The skill level and how brave it was to take on a quality attack like that when we were 445 behind..." said Wood.

"To play that freely, that is what the team is about and the way he played summed it up perfectly."

Duckett reached 50 from only 39 deliveries and then recorded the second-fastest century by an England opener in Tests.

In all, he faced 118 deliveries, plundering 21 fours and two sixes.

"It was amazing to watch," Wood told BBC Sport. "I couldn't believe how cleanly he hit the ball. It wasn't just luck.

"He was deliberately hitting it in those places and really smashing it."

• Thrilling Duckett century leads England counter-attack

Duckett, 29, has excelled since being recalled by England last winter.

This was his third Test century, taking his average as an opener to 50.62. Of England openers with at least 1,000 Test runs, only four have a better average.

"It has been a remarkable innings from Ben Duckett," said BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew.

"He has probably been the main beneficiary of the liberating attitude of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum."

Duckett shared stands of 80 with Zak Crawley and 93 with Ollie Pope. He was taken to the close by Joe Root, who is nine not out.

England were earlier held up by a partnership of 79 between debutant Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin, then another of 30 between last pair Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj before they were able to bowl out India.

Despite Duckett's sensational innings, England have plenty more batting to do in order to get up to and beyond India's total. With England due to bat last on a pitch set to deteriorate, any sort of first-innings lead could be vital.

"The game is right in the balance," said Wood, who claimed 4-114. "They will be thinking if they get wickets they are on top; if we get another partnership we will be on top.

"I'm a bowler, so I want every lead we can get. That's not quite how the game goes, so we'll have to see what happens tomorrow."

The day was bookended by two controversial moments.

In the morning session India were penalised for running on the pitch. Ravindra Jadeja had been warned on the first day so, when Ashwin repeated the offence, England were given five runs with which to begin their innings.

"I honestly didn't know the rule, which is pretty shocking for an international cricketer," said 34-year-old Wood.

"I just assumed that when all the lads were looking at each other and giggling, something had happened.

"Jonny Bairstow was very adamant about looking after the pitch - he wanted everyone to be off it. I get warned plenty of times for running on the wicket when I bowl, so it's nice to get one back off the batters."

Late in the day, Pope was given out for 39, lbw on review to Siraj. When the ball was shown to be clipping the top of leg stump, Duckett was visibly frustrated.

Stokes criticised a DRS decision that gave Crawley lbw to spinner Kuldeep Yadav in England's defeat in the second Test.

"Most of us were pretty disappointed," said Wood. "Watching it live, we thought it was going over the stumps.

"The technology is there to help the game. We have seen how much it has helped and moved the game forwards.

"As a bowler I think everything that's hitting the stumps should be out, so I'm a bit biased. Live, it looked very different to what came up on the screen."