“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 opener Ben Duckett has opened up on backlash he received for his comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal during the Rajkot Test match against England. Jaiswal played aggressively throughout the series and Duckett said the English batters deserve some credit for the youngster’s aggressive approach.

Jaiswal was on song throughout the five-match Test series against the Ben Stokes-led team. The southpaw scored 712 runs in five matches at an outstanding average of 89 and an impressive strike rate of 79.91. Thus, he was awarded Player of the Series as India won the series by 4-1.

Speaking to Daily Mail, Ben Duckett said, “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.”

On the other hand, Duckett is known to bat aggressively and he has done a fine job for England. Duckett, who scored 343 runs in the five-match Test series against India, said head coach Brendon McCullum asked him to bat freely as an opener.

“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.”

Duckett has scored 1642 runs in 23 Test matches at an average of 41.05 and has a strike rate of 85.74. The left-hander will be in action in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka. The first Test match will be played at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester from August 21.