"I was just thinking of taking the bowlers down": Yashasvi Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal (Pic: File Pic)

The player of the series award winner Yashasavi Jaiswal on Saturday expressed that the reason behind his overwhelming success in the series against England is his carefree approach while opening the innings.

The prolific Indian batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal ended the aeries with 712 runs including two hundreds and three fifties. He averaged 80 and striking at 80. "I was just thinking if I can take a bowler down, I will take him down. That's the plan and there was no backing out," said Jaiswal during the post-series presentation.

Yashasvi also became the second Indian batsman to score 700 plus runs in a test series after legendary Sunil Gavaskar. He stated that he wanted to keep his feet planted on the ground.

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"I really enjoyed the series. I am trying to take it one game at a time and always thinking of how I can contribute to my team so that I can keep the team in a winning position," he added.

Skipper Rohit Sharma too reminded Jaiswal of the need to remain humble and focussed. "He's got a long way to go, but it's amazing to be in this position. When a guy's got talent like that who can put pressure on the bowlers from the word go, there will be lots of challenges going forward. He is a tough guy and loves the challenges," said Rohit.

India's spin wizard Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged player of the match for his seven-wicket haul and a nervous 30 down the batting lineup that helped the hosts stretch the lead in the fifth and final test against England.

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Yadav said that he was just trying to keep the ball on good length throughout his spells. "I just focus on keeping it on a good length and that is very important for a spinner in this format. I was not thinking too much about what the batter was trying to do," he said.

When asked about his favourite dismissals from the series, Yadav mentioned the wicket of Ben Stokes at Ranchi and Zak Crawley in the fifth test. "I really bowled well in Ranchi. The wicket was slow and the way I used the drift over there was fantastic. I liked the Stokes wicket in Ranchi."

"I also liked the Crawley wicket here (Dharamsala), that was a beautiful ball. I really liked my rhythm," he said. Kuldeep bowled England captain Stokes with a delivery that spun in from off-stump while right-hander Crawley got castled by his stock ball that turned in sharply from the fifth-stump line to disturb his stumps.

Rohit Sharma heaped praise on Kuldeep's work ethic. "He's got a lot of potential and when the chips were down in the first innings (here), he bowled really well. He came back and worked at NCA after his injury. He is putting in a lot of effort and the most pleasing thing was his (improved) batting," said Rohit.

(With PTI Inputs)