The last month has seen a huge transformation in Will Young’s career. Having spent his time as a reserve top-order batter in Sri Lanka, he was destined to carry the drinks during the three-Test series in India.

But an injury to Kane Williamson suddenly opened the gates of opportunity for him. Young, 31, was slotted in at No. 3 and delivered impactful knocks to end up with 244 runs at an average of 48.80.

It earned him the Man of the Series award as New Zealand stunned India to complete a 3-0 whitewash at the Wankhede in Mumbai.

Young admitted that the last few weeks have been nothing short of a miracle and a sort of learning curve.

“This tour has taught me the most, having the courage to back the style of play that you want to bring to the party... And that you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You just go out there and do it your own way.

“That’s ultimately the best way to play and the greatest learning curve that I took out of this tour. Everyone will approach things differently. It’s important to be authentic and play the game how you want to play it,” Young told The Telegraph from Colombo on Friday where New Zealand are playing a limited-overs series.

He admitted that the celebrations did take a while to subside after the Test got over on the third day in Mumbai. They also enjoyed a bit of sight-seeing during their spare time.

“I think it’s important to celebrate. However, as soon as we got on that flight from Mumbai to Colombo and said goodbye to the guys who were going home, it felt very real that there’s some more opportunities on the horizon,” Young remarked.

Did he make any technical adjustments considering that his only experience of playing in the subcontinent was the two Test matches during their last tour of India in 2021? Or was it more of mental adjustment on turning wickets.

“I think it’s a bit of both,” he said. “You know, during our preparations there were some experimental sessions where you try different shots against spin or just try different methods to what you perhaps normally would play like.

“You tend to take little bits (from those sessions) and it’s not just the preparations, it’s the conversations that you have around the group. We love to talk about batting, what works and what doesn’t.

“The coaching staff were also awesome. We sort of felt excited really to come over to the subcontinent and give it a go and try these different methods... what might work and what might not. But the mental aspect comes in as well. You’ve got to back yourself to do what you’ve trained and implement that,” he said.

One aspect which stood out in his batting was the way he utilised the sweep, both conventional and reverse, to neutralise the Indian spinners, especially during the two half-centuries (71 and 51) on a rank turner at the Wankhede. It was exceptional since
most of the Indians faltered in their attempt.

However, Young doesn’t agree he has mastered the shot. “I certainly wouldn’t go as far to say that I’ve mastered the shot or different sweep shots. It’s still a work in progress. However, I guess I’ve developed an understanding of when might be a good time to play it... What the field is and how I want it to be.

“And I can get maximum rewards from taking that risk because it is a risky shot. Right. So yeah, the risk and reward factor, I guess, is something that I’ve learned to deal with,” Young remarked.

He also credited Sri Lankan Rangana Herath, the team’s spin bowling consultant, for his achievements.

“I was with the drinks in Sri Lanka. So I got to spend quite a bit of time with him in the nets and we’d rush down there at lunch and we’d have 40 minutes of a net session. But I really enjoyed being with Rangana,” said Young.

“He’s a cool customer... Cool and calm and yeah, he certainly loves to bowl still, that’s for sure. He’s bowled a lot to me... He’d always be at the nets offering his advice and how he feels bowling to a batsman and the different field sets that might be implemented to get a batter out.

“It’s just a really interesting insight and I certainly loved having him around the group and I’m sure a lot of the other batsmen and bowlers, spin bowlers in particular, loved it too.”

He realises the T20Is and ODIs will be a different challenge of sorts. Sri Lanka won the opening T20I by four wickets on Saturday.

“It can be tricky to bounce between different formats. Coming from the red ball to the white ball game can be a bit easier because in red ball, you’re
looking after a lot of the basics. You might be looking to explore different shots and be a bit more aggressive. It’s a short turnaround, so we’ve got to sort of dust the cobwebs
off a bit.”

The Sri Lanka-New Zealand series will be telecast live on Sony Sports Ten 5 channel.