‘Don’t back down’: Yashasvi Jaiswal reveals his match-winning strategy for Team India

Man of the Series award winner Yashasvi Jaiswal on Saturday attributed his overwhelming performance in the five-match Test series against England to his unruly performance in the opening innings. Jaiswal ended the series with 712 runs, two hundred and three fifties, an average of 89 and a strike rate of 80. “I was just thinking, if I can bowl a bowler, I will bowl him. That was the plan, no holding back,” Jaiswal said in his post-series speech. However, the southpaw, who became only the second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to score more than 700 runs in a series, said he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

“I really enjoy this series. I try to take it one game at a time and always think about how I can contribute to my team so that I can keep the team in a winning position,” he added.

Skipper Rohit Sharma also reminded Jaiswal of the need to stay humble and focused.

“He’s got a long way to go but it’s great to be in this position. When a guy has that talent and can put pressure on the bowlers from the get-go, there’s going to be a lot of challenges ahead. He’s A tough guy. Someone who likes challenges,” Rohit said.

Trying to keep the ball at a good distance: Kuldeep

Kuldeep Yadav was named the Man of the Match with his 7-wicket performance and 30 runs, helping India extend their lead.

The left-arm wrist spinner said he was just trying to maintain length on the ball throughout the game.

“I just focused on maintaining good length, which is very important for a spinner in this format. I didn’t think too much about what the batsman was trying to do,” he said.

Kuldeep picked the wickets of Ranchi’s Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley as his favorite outs of the series.

“I bowled really well in Ranchi. The wicket was slow and the way I used my drifts there was fantastic. I liked the Stokes wicket in Ranchi.

“I also like the Crawley wicket here (Dharamshala), it’s a nice ball. I really like my rhythm,” he said.

Kuldeep bowled England skipper Stokes with a delivery that spun off off-stump, while right-hander Crawley was caught out by his stock ball, which swerved sharply from the fifth-stump line to disrupt his tree stump.

Rohit Sharma was all praises for Kuldeep’s work ethic.

“He has a lot of potential and when the chips were down in the first inning (here), he played really well. He came back from injury and worked at the NCA. He put in a lot of hard work and that’s the most pleasing thing about him (Improved) batting,” Rohit said.

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