Michael Clarke takes a dig at Ben Duckett for comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke took a dig at England opening batter Ben Duckett for trying to take credit for Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double hundred in the Rajkot Test. Jaiswal, who eventually remained unbeaten on 214 runs, had scored 104 on day three of the Test against England.

Duckett, while lauding Jaiswal’s sublime knock, said that England should get some credit for the aggressive approach of the young India batter.  The comment did not go down well with Clarke who said that Duckett probably did not watch the Australian Test team’s style of play for the last 20 years.

“As a young player, he might not be aware of the brand of Test cricket Australia played. Has he heard of Matthew Hayden, Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist? These players could hit the ball as well as anyone,” he said while speaking to ESPN Australia.

“Just because you play a reverse sweep, a switch hit, or a ramp shot, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re batting aggressively either. Matthew Hayden would simply stroll down the wicket and smash the ball straight over your head for a six. He didn’t have to resort to playing a ramp or a switch hit," the former Aussie skipper added.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain also criticised Duckett for his comments that Jaiswal’s aggressive batting was in part due to England’s ‘Bazball’ strategy. Hussain said that one must take notes from the remarkable performance of the young Indian batter.

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Jaiswal has been in superb form in the ongoing Test series and returned on Day 4 to take on the England attack. He smashed the England bowlers all over the park and notched up his second double ton of the series. The southpaw received great support from debutant Sarfaraz Khan as India set England a target of 557 after declaring their innings at 430 in the third Test.

India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja then stepped up and ended with a five-wicket haul as England were bundled out for 122, resulting in a 434-run defeat. India lead the five-match Test series 2-1 and the two sides will next face each other in Ranchi.