Rohit Sharma shuts Ben Duckett’s controversial claim

During the third Test of the series in Rajkot, England’s Ben Duckett made a bold claim, stating that cricketers around the world have started batting aggressively after the emergence of Bazball. His statement came soon after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s charismatic knock on Day 3 of the Test following which, multiple former cricketers criticized him, stating that aggressive batting existed before England decided to play in that fashion.

Ahead of the fifth Test in Dharamshala, India skipper Rohit Sharma commented on the same and stated that Rishabh Pant always preferred to play aggressively, much before England decided to adopt it. The 36-year-old hilariously added that Duckett might have not seen him bat and also stated that he has no idea what Bazball means but lauded England for playing better cricket in this series.

“Yashasvi Jaiswal learning from Ben Duckett? There was a guy called Rishabh Pant in our team, probably Ben Duckett hasn’t seen him play,” Rohit was quoted as saying by News18.

Still don’t have a clue what Bazball is: Rohit

“I just don’t know what Bazball means. I haven’t seen wild swinging from anyone. England have played better cricket than they were here last time. But I still don’t know what Bazball means…,” he added.

Meanwhile, India is currently leading 3-1 in the series and Jasprit Bumrah is set to make his return to the playing XI. One of the spinners is likely to be rested, as the surface in Dharamshala is expected to favor the pacers. On the other hand, spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin is set to play his 100th Test match and ahead of that, he has thanked domestic cricketers like Rajat Bhatia, Mithun Manhas, and Badrinath for making him a better spinner.

However, the milestone man also saw controversy coming his way after former Indian spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan made a bold remark about Ashwin rejecting to respond to his calls, and messages to congratulate him for playing the 100th Test. However, the former cricketer also clarified that Ashwin called him later and thanked him for his well-wishes.