NEW DELHI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal
, who clinched the Player-of-the-Series award on Saturday, credited his remarkable success in the five-Test series against England to his unrestrained approach while opening the innings.
Jaiswal concluded the series with an impressive tally of 712 runs, including two centuries and three half-centuries, maintaining an average of 89 and a striking rate of 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.
Nevertheless, the left-hander, who joined the ranks as the second Indian to amass over 700 runs in a series following
Sunil Gavaskar
, expressed his desire to stay grounded.
"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.
Captain
Rohit Sharma
also emphasized to Jaiswal the importance of maintaining humility and focus.
"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.
Was trying to keep ball on good length: Kuldeep
Kuldeep Yadav
was adjudged player of the match for his seven-wicket haul and a feisty 30 down the order that helped India stretch the lead.
The left-arm wrist spinner said he was just trying to keep the ball on a 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.
Kuldeep picked the wickets of
Ben Stokes
at Ranchi and
Zak Crawley
here as his favourite dismissals from the series.
"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 ethics.
"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 inputs from PTI)
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