Ben Duckett found himself in serious water when he claimed that Yashasvi Jaiswal’s daring double-ton in Rajkot should have been credited to England.
After scoring his second double century in as many games against England, Yashasvi Jaiswal has gained attention. The first batsman in the third Test match at Rajkot made 214 runs in the second half off 236 balls, and India went on to win by 434 runs, their highest total in the longest version of the game.
Following his valiant actions, Jaiswal received a ton of accolades from the cricket community. But although Ben Duckett, the England opener, claimed that his team’s extremely aggressive Bazball strategy should be commended for motivating the Mumbai batter to do well during his historic double-century, he has come under heavy criticism.
When opposing players perform that way, Duckett remarked, “it almost feels like we should take some credit that they’re playing differently than other people play Test cricket.”
Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan, two former captains of England, have already criticized the southpaw’s remarks. Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has now addressed the hot button issue and criticized the small England batter. Clarke continued, reminding Duckett of the aggressive Australian batsmen of the 1990s and 2000s who, among others, took several talented bowling attacks to the cleaners: Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, and Adam Gilchrist.
“It seems like he missed Australia for twenty years.” He must have grown up without knowing about Australia’s Test cricket history. Is he familiar with Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn, Ricky Ponting, Michael Slater, or Matthew Hayden? On ESPN Australia’s Around The Wicket, Clarke said, “These guys used to smack it as good as everyone.”
“You are not necessarily hitting aggressively just because you play a ramp shot, switch hit, or reverse sweep. You just got smacked for a six by Matthew Hayden as he strolled down the wicket. He didn’t have to execute a switch hit or a ramp,” he continued.
I adore England’s assertive strategy: Michael Clarke
Former cricket players were very critical of England’s Bazball strategy after they dropped their opening two Tests to trail 1-2 in the five-match series. Clarke acknowledged his fondness for Bazball, though, and praised Ben Stokes and his team for implementing the thrilling strategy. The former cricket player who is now a commentator did, however, restate that England is not the first team to play aggressively in Test matches.
“I adore England’s assertive strategy. It seems to have succeeded, since they are laying a solid platform for future success in cricket. They succeeded in this Test [Rajkot] and are receiving the desired outcomes.
“People need to be realistic and realize that a batsman’s duty is to score runs, and there have been many outstanding individuals and teams throughout history who have accomplished this feat against strong opposition. “England is not the first team to bat positively or play aggressively,” he concluded.
