"Pretty sure I said he was a world-class player" - Ben Duckett opens up on backlash for his comments about Yashasvi Jaiswal during Rajkot Test
England Test opener Ben Duckett has opened up on his comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal's batting, citing how the Englishmen deserve some credit for India's aggressive approach. The Nottinghamshire batter reminded everyone how he also called Jaiswal a world-class player, which was seemingly forgotten.
Following Jaiswal's blistering knock on Day 3 of the Rajkot Test earlier this year, Duckett said that England deserve some credit for other teams batting aggressively.
The comments, though, didn't go down well with fans or the media, with even the likes of Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan criticising the left-hander.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, the Nottinghamshire opener said that he sees it as a compliment and recalled how Jaiswal was on fire throughout the series.
"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. 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."
Jaiswal, who scored a hundred on his Test debut, left England's bowling attack clueless throughout the five-match series. The youngster registered 712 runs in five matches at 89 with two centuries and three fifties.
"Why do you have to go and bat like these previous openers?" - Ben Duckett recalls Brendon McCullum's words
The left-handed batter suggested how it made sense to follow Brendon McCullum's advice of being the best version of himself instead of playing like traditional openers. The 29-year-old added (via the aforementioned source):
"It was Baz (McCullum) who said: 'Why do you have to go and bat like these previous openers? Why can’t you be the best version of yourself?' That’s what I am.
"It has its downfalls: I nick off quite a lot. But I’ve also scored a lot of runs in that area. If I start to leave more balls, I bet you I’d still nick off and still score a lot less runs."
England have lost only one series since McCullum took over as the coach of their Test side. However, having missed out on the last two World Test Championship finals, the Englishmen will be keen to qualify for it next year.