Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke slammed England opener Ben Duckett over his comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal. Clarke said Duckett must have missed Australia for 20 years as Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting’s teams dominated for more than two decades.
The likes of Matthew Hayden, Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, and Adam Gilchrist tormented the opposition bowlers with their aggressive batting.
“He (Duckett) must have missed Australia for 20 years,” former Australia skipper Clarke said on ESPN Australia. “As a youngster, he must not know what Test cricket Australia played. Has he heard of Matthew Hayden, Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist? These guys used to smack it as good as everyone.”
“Because you play a reverse sweep or a switch hit or a ramp shot, that doesn’t mean you are batting aggressively either. Matthew Hayden just walked down the wicket and hit you straight over your head for a six. He didn’t have to play a ramp or a switch hit,” Clarke added.
Meanwhile, Duckett came under the scanner when he said England deserves a bit of credit for the way Yashasvi Jaiswal has been playing in the ongoing series. Jaiswal has amassed 545 runs in the three Test matches at an impressive average of 109.
“He (Jaiswal) looks like a superstar in the making, unfortunately he’s in some very good form at the moment,” Duckett said. “When you see players from the opposition playing like that, it almost feels like we should take some credit that they’re playing differently than how other people play Test cricket. We saw it a bit in the summer and it’s quite exciting to see other players and other teams are also playing that aggressive style of cricket.”
India and England will next take on each other at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi in the fourth Test match from Friday.
