Ravichandran Ashwin recently pointed out that England’s ‘Bazball’ approach to playing cricket could backfire in certain conditions.
The term ‘Bazball’, has gained popularity since last summer as the English men’s cricket team adopted an attacking style of cricket under new coach Brendon McCullum, whose nickname ‘Baz’, and skipper Ben Stokes.
England have won 10 out of their last 12 Tests, since the change in leadership, including a 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan. But in the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington, England suffered a stunning collapse and a narrow one-run defeat.
“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 wickets, 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," Ashwin added.
In fact, England had beaten India in India, the last team to do so, beating MS Dhoni’s men 2-1 in the 2012-13 tour. However, England went on to lose their next two tours – by 4-0 and 3-1 margins respectively.
England will travel to Bangladesh for a limited-overs series after their Test series against New Zealand, 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.
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