Young India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal broke several records during a five-match Test series against England in January this year. The 22-year-old batter hammered 712 runs in five games and helped India win the series with a dominating scoreline of 4-1. With his aggressive batting, which consisted of two double centuries and two tons, Jaiswal also joined former India Sunil Gavaskar in the elite list of Indian batters to score 700-plus runs in a Test series. However, during this series, a comment from England batter Ben Duckett for Jaiswal invited a lot of criticism.

Seeing Jaiswal’s aggressive approach, Duckett had claimed that the credit of Jaiswal’s fiery technique should be given to the English batters.

This statement led to widespread criticism of Duckett as many former cricketers and cricket pundits slammed him for not appreciating Jaiswal. However, eight months after the series, the England opener has opened up on his statement.

“It was actually me paying him (Jaiswal) 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,” Duckett told Daily Mail.

Duckett also revealed how red-ball coach Brendon McCullum’s words spurred him to become the best version of himself as a batter in the longer format, instead of being like traditional players.

“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 score a lot less runs,” said Duckett.

The left-handed opener also said he is never satisfied with himself and his performances. “If you’d have offered me in 2022 the two years I’ve had, I’d have snapped your hand off. But I’m the kind of guy who’s never satisfied. I want the next two years to be even better. My batting has felt like it has gone to a different level, which I can’t really put my finger on.”

(With IANS Inputs)