‘Duckett hasn’t seen Pant play’: Rohit Sharma schools English opener over absurd Bazball remark

Indian men's Test team captain Rohit Sharma has hit back at England batter Ben Duckett's recent comments that the hosts had learned from the 'Bazball' style of cricket and changed their gameplay.

Speaking to reporterson the eve of the fifth Test match at Dharamsala, Sharma gave it back to the England opener, reminding him of swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.

“Yashasvi Jaiswal learning from Ben Duckett? There was a guy called Rishabh Pant in our team. Probably Ben Duckett hasn’t seen him play," quipped Sharma.

After Indian batters took an aggressive route against the English bowlers during the Rajkot Test, Duckett made the comment, suggesting that England's flamboyant style of play should be credited for Jaiswal's performance.

“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 was quoted as saying.

Nasser Hussain's reaction to Duckett's statement

Notably, Sharma is not the first cricketer to have reacted to Duckett's rather absurd statement. Former England captain-turned-commentator Nasser Hussain in a passionate monologue said Jaiswal had learned attacking form of cricket after doing the hard yards in the IPL and domestic circuit.

"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 Sky Sports podcast.

"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," he added.

Despite the hullabaloo surrounding Bazball in the run-up to the series, India managed to comfortably secure an unassailablelead in the series. There were brief aspersions after India's defeat in the Hyderabad Test but the team quickly bounced back and kept Ben Stokes' team at bay.

The final test of the series gets underway at Dharamshala on Thursday (Mar 7) with both teams hoping to earn valuable points to keep them in contention for the World Test Championship final.

(With inputs from agencies)