During the third Test of the series in Rajkot, England’s Ben Duckett had said that after the emergence of baseball, cricketers around the world have started batting aggressively. His statement came soon after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s charismatic innings on the third day of the Test and led to several former cricketers criticizing him, saying aggressive batting existed even before England decided to play in that style.
Ahead of the fifth Test in Dharamsala, India captain Rohit Sharma gave his opinion and said that Rishabh Pant always liked to play aggressively, long before England decided to adopt baseball. The 36-year-old Rohit said Duckett may not have seen him bat and also said he doesn’t know what baseball actually means, but praised England for playing good cricket in this series.
Rohit Sharma replied to Ben Duckett in his own style
Rohit was quoted by News 18 as saying, “Yashasvi Jaiswal learning from Ben Duckett? There was a boy named Rishabh Pant in our team, perhaps Ben Duckett might not have seen him playing.” While giving this answer, not only did Rohit himself laugh, everyone present in the press conference started laughing.
This series is very important for Team India in terms of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. If the Indian team also wins the fifth test of the series, then its position at the first position will become stronger.
India is currently leading 3-1 in the series and Jasprit Bumrah’s return to the playing eleven is certain. One spinner is likely to be rested as it is believed that the Dharamsala pitch will suit fast bowlers. On the other hand, this will be the 100th Test match for spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin and obviously he would like to perform well in this Test match.