Michael Clarke schools Ben Duckett over Bazball-inspired Jaiswal remark

Yashasvi Jaiswal has been in the limelight after registering his second double-century in consecutive matches against England. In the third Test in Rajkot, the opening batter scored 214 not out off 236 balls in the second innings before India went on to secure a 434-run victory, their biggest in terms of runs in the longest format of the game.

Jaiswal earned massive praise from the cricketing fraternity following his heroics. However, England opener Ben Duckett has been receiving relentless bashing after he said that his team's ultra-aggressive Bazball approach deserves credit for encouraging the Mumbai batter to play positively during his epic double-century.

“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," Duckett said.

Former England captains, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan have already criticised the comments made by the southpaw. Now, former Australian captain Michael Clarke has commented on the burning topic and lambasted the diminutive England batter. Clarke went on to remind Duckett about the aggressive Australian batters like Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, and Adam Gilchrist, among others, who took many accomplished bowling attacks to the cleaners during the 1990s and 2000s.

“He must have missed Australia for 20 years. 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," Clarke stated on ESPN Australia’s Around The Wicket.

“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," he added.

I love the aggressive approach of England: Michael Clarke

England's Bazball ploy garnered a lot of criticism from former cricketers after they lost two Tests on the trot to fall behind with the scoreline reading 1-2 in the five-match series. Clarke, however, said that he is fond of Bazball and lauded Ben Stokes and his men for incorporating the exciting approach. However, the cricketer-turned-commentator reiterated that England are not the first team to play aggressive cricket in Test matches.

“I love the aggressive approach of England. I think it has worked, they are building a really good foundation to play great cricket. They are getting the results they want, they did it in this Test [Rajkot]. Playing in India is tough: you can sit there and block, you gonna get one with your name on it. You might try a reverse sweep and you might hit it straight to backward point. It’s just the way the game goes," Clarke said.

“I think people need to be realistic and understand, as a batsman, your job is to score runs and there have been plenty of great players and plenty of teams around the world score plenty of runs against good opposition. England is not the first team to play aggressive or bat positively," he ended.

Also Read: "Jaiswal hasn’t learned from you, he has learned from his upbringing" - Nasser Hussain hits back at Ben Duckett