"What he was trying to do?" - Steve Harmison on Ben Duckett's dismissal in IND vs ENG 5th Test

Steve Harmison has slammed England's opening batter Ben Duckett for his poor shot selection on Day 3 of the recently concluded Dharamsala Test against India.

Duckett scored just two runs off five balls in England's second innings. The southpaw perished while trying to play a lofted shot down the ground off Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling.

However, he was beaten all ends up and was out bowled. Harmison expressed his displeasure over the performances of England's top-order batters, especially Duckett and Ollie Pope.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, the former fast bowler said:

"It started with Ben Duckett. What he was trying to do, I'm not sure. Ollie Pope played a 23-ball innings, for an international No. 3, I struggle to understand, and it continued from there. The only person that really looked comfortable at the crease was Joe Root."

Harmison opined that the visitors' depleted show with the bat in the fifth Test was because they had already lost the series. He added:

"It's natural. It is human nature and natural that you will get to a point when your series is finished and you're out of the series, you can't win it, you got one Test match to play, and I think this was just one counterpunch I didn't think England had in them to throw back."

The former cricketer also suggested that England's mentality cannot be blamed following the disappointing result in India.

"I've got no problem with their mentality. Their mentality is why they've been in these Test matches. I know Ben Duckett said something, whether it got out of context a little bit or not, I think what he said was he wasn't too far off the mark in the way India have played and the way India's mentality has gone about this series," he said

England were bundled out for 218 and 195 in the Dharamsala Test. India won the game by an innings and 64 runs to complete a 4-1 series victory.

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"I don't like that 'this is the way we play'" - Steve Harmison on Ben Stokes and Co.

Steve Harmison also opined that England cannot justify their underwhelming run in the India Test series by saying, "This is the way we play."

Harmison said:

"The thing that's annoyed me as a supporter is I don't like that 'this is the way we play'. I'm sick of that now because what we get is good players, top characters, ruthless individuals, don't settle for 'this is the way we play'. What they do is, they get on top, they cash in, and they say, 'Right, you change your plan accordingly to me, the way I play, because I'm too good for you.'. Unfortunately, India were too good for England."

England gave their fans hope with their 28-run win in the Test series opener in Hyderabad but lost the next four matches.