England’s revolutionary ‘Bazball’ style of playing cricket might have made them a force to be reckoned with in the Test format but Ravichandran Ashwin thinks the approach could backfire in certain conditions.
The term gained popularity last summer after the English team adopted an attacking style of cricket under new coach Brendon McCullum, whose nickname ‘Baz’ is the inspiration behind its name, and skipper Ben Stokes.
Also Read: ‘I don’t really like that silly term’, says Brendon McCullum on ‘Bazball’
England have won 10 out of their last 11 Tests, often in remarkable fashion, since the change in leadership, including a 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan, and are currently on the verge of completing a 2-0 sweep in New Zealand.
“We now have a concept called Bazball. England is playing high-paced Test match cricket. They want to play a certain style of cricket. But in certain types of wicket, when you try and attack every ball, you will falter. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this approach,” Ashwin said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Some will ask instead of defending and getting all out for 100, I will slog it out and get all out for 140. We will only know when the game pans out that the approach works or not. Sometimes, on the wicket, conditions need to be respected. If you respect the pitch and play accordingly, the pitch will also respect you. If you respect the pitch, it will pay you dividends,” added the senior Indian off-spinner with 463 Test wickets to his name.
England were the last team to beat India in a Test series on their own turf, stunning MS Dhoni’s men 2-1 in the 2012-13 tour. However, the side would go on to lose their next two assignments by margins of 4-0 and 3-1 respectively.
England travel to Bangladesh for a limited-overs tour after getting done with the New Zealand Tests, which incidentally are not part of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle. They face Australia in a home Ashes later this summer in what will be Stokes and McCullum’s biggest assignment yet.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.