AHMEDABAD: England opener Ben Duckett said on Tuesday even a 3-0 One-day International series loss in India will not affect the team’s morale because they are focused on winning the ICC Champions Trophy title.

The tourists will clash with India in the final ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday after the hosts took an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The ODIs come ahead of the 50-over Champions Trophy starting on Feb 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.

“We have come here for one thing and that is to win the Champions Trophy,” said Duckett. “We still believe we can do that. It’ll be completely different conditions, all different teams we are playing against.”

England, led by Jos Buttler, begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Ashes rivals Australia in Lahore on Feb 22.

They are in Group ‘B’ of the eight-team tournament with Afghanistan and South Africa as the other two sides.

“If we lose 3-0 to India, I don’t care as long as we beat them in the final of the Champions Trophy,” said Duckett, a left-hand batsman.

“If we do that, we probably won’t look back on this if we do the business in that competition.”

England’s tour of India has been Brendon McCullum’s first assignment as coach of the white-ball team. He started with a 4-1 loss in the T20 internationals.

The defeats followed in the two ODI matches as well despite England being in good positions with bat and ball in both games.

“It’s about peaking at the right time,” said Duckett. “We have been close against this India side and we have been nowhere near our best. We will always take positives.”

He added: “We could dwell, start meetings and going at each other but the group under Baz [McCullum] aren’t going to do that.

“It’s difficult not to get the results here, but hopefully we can turn it around in Pakistan.”

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025