England batter Ben Duckett broke his silence over the criticism of his comments on Team India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal during the Test series between the two teams this year.
Following Yashasvi Jaiswal's blistering century on Day 3 of the Rajkot Test, Ben Duckett commented that England deserves some credit for encouraging India to switch to an aggressive batting approach. The Three Lions adopted an aggressive approach after a captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over the reins of the Test team.
However, Duckett's comments didn't go down well with Indian cricket fans, who criticised the England batter for attempting to take credit for India's batting prowess. Even former England cricketers Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton too criticised Ben Duckett for his comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Speaking to Daily Mail, Ben Duckett stated that he comment on Yashasvi Jasiwal see it as a compliment, while reminding that he called the Indian batter a 'world-class player', which went unnoticed according to him.
"It was actually me paying him a nice compliment. I’m pretty sure I said he was a world-class player, but no one spoke about that." the Nottinghamshire opener said.
"Would I have said what I did during the fifth Test? No, because he played like that throughout the whole series, and he was incredible." he added.
Yashasvi Jaiswal had an incredible Test series against England, where he shattered several records. It was a breakthrough Test series for the young batter as he amassed 712 runs, including two double centuries and a century, at an astounding average of 89.00 in five matches.
In Test cricket, Jaiswal has aggregated 1028 runs, including two doubles, a century and 4 fifties, at an average of 68.53 in nine matches.
Yashasvi Jaiswal to play in Duleep Trophy before Bangladesh Test series
Yashasvi Jaiswal will play for Group B for the upcoming season of the Duleep Trophy. Jaiswal alongside Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and others will play in the first round of the Duleep Trophy.
The Duleep Trophy will take place on September 5, exactly two weeks before the first Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19. The first-class cricket tournament will serve as preparation ahead of the Test series against Bangladesh.
Some Team India players are currently playing in the ongoing Buchi Babu tournament in Tamil Nadu. India's last international match was the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, where Men in Blue lost 0-2.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to announce the India squad for two Tests and three T20Is next month.
