England batter Ben Duckett slammed a fine 153 in the first innings of the third Test at Rajkot but he has received more criticism for his comment during the course of the match than praise for this phenomenal performance. Duckett, while prasing Yashasvi Jaiswal, had claimed credit on his team’s behalf for inspiring him to play a superb innings. Duckett had 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.”
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The comment did not go down well with the India fans and former cricketers. They felt that Jaiswal’s game had nothing to do with ‘Bazball’. Truth is that Jaiswal has previously also batted with a strike rate of over 100 before in his short Test career.
Former England captain and now an expert with Sky Sports Cricket, Nasser Hussain, came down heavily on Duckett for his statement, saying it is England who must learn from Jaiswal. “The comment on Jaiswal that he has learned from us, I am going to touch on that. He has not learned from you, he has learned from his upbringing and all the hard yards he has put in while growing up, he has learned from the IPL. If anything, I would look at him and learn from him,” Hussain told Michael Atherton on the Sky Sports podcast.
Hussain also warned Ben Stokes and Co of becoming victim of their self-created cult called Bazball. He said that self-introspection is required and it won’t take place if the dressing room does not want to see the lackings on Bazball. “So, whatever they are saying in public and in that dressing room, I hope they are going back into their room with self-introspection. I can look at that lad and learn from him. Otherwise, it becomes a cult, doesn’t it? At times, Bazball has been described as a cult where you cannot criticise either within or externally. Even in this regime, there is room for learning and improving,” Hussain added.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal hasn’t learned from you, he’s learnt from his upbringing. If anything you should look at him and learn”.
What a reply by Nasser Hussain to Ben Duckett…!!! _pic.twitter.com/LrWneMaZKG
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 19, 2024
While Bazball has rightly been praised for changing the way England play Test cricket, its success rate is not too heartening. Truth is that England have not been able to win many series since playing Bazball. They draw the Ashes and did not win against New Zealand. One more loss and India tour also goes down the drain.
The fourth and last Test starts in Ranchi from February 23. England are trailing by 1-2 in the five match series. The last Test will be played in Dharamsala.
Source: Zee News