Why the cry over Bazball?

Suddenly, Bazball is in the news but for the wrong reasons. Why the cry over Bazball? England was never known for exciting cricket. Push into a corner, they will usually buckle down and wait to be rolled over. The various teams under Alastair Cook and Joe Root more or less resembled lambs to the slaughter house though they enjoyed some sporadic successes. The last England captain, who wanted England to play a brand of cricket that was exciting and aggressive was Michael Vaughan. Injuries cut his career too short. Otherwise, he could have given a direction that other captains could have followed. Joe Root especially whose captaincy was uninspiring. He even managed to lose to the West Indies twice.

He went through a period of 17 Tests out of which England managed to win just one. Everything changed with Ben Stokes took over. He alongwith Brendan McCullum has performed a miracle. To change the direction of a team that was so used to playing in a certain way, takes lot of courage. That is exactly what the duo did and they were rewarded for it handsomely. Stokes has won 11 Tests considering the same number of Tests. If this is not satisfying, I wonder what will be.

Criticism of the former players

Now, having tasted successive defeats in India, the former English players have started to blame the method. There are calls for Bazball to be scrapped and replaced with the traditional method. Agreed, some shots which produced runs in England, do not have a place on the slow pitches of India but that does not mean the whole approach that has been rewarding to be shelved after a few failures.

Joe Root’s ramp shot of Bumrah was outrageous. He may have gotten away with that shot in England but here in India, with the pitch being slower, it is difficult to pull off that shot. By the time the ball is in the range, Root would have already gone halfway into the shot and by the time he completes the shot, he was out of balance. Nonetheless, he is too good a batsman to play such shots on pitches that do not allow for.

India is a tough place to tour and at Rajkot, despite the inexperience, they played brilliantly. The batting was breathtaking. England were outplayed. Indian team management needed a score in excess of 550 to declare which is a credit to Bazball. Indians were clearly overawed of the potential of Bazball, they have first hand experience at Headingley and they needed that extra protection of 100 runs.

The latest addition is Mark Ramprakash

“As captain he inherited a group that were playing poorly and losing. He has taken the pressure off them, galvanised them and given them a method they are happy to use.

“But I am left thinking, is that what success is? Is it success for a team to entertain the public whether they win, lose or draw?

“Or is success getting the job done: winning matches, winning series, competing for the World Test Championship?”

I can only say that all these former England players must relax. Prior to the series, Michael Vaughan was of the opinion that England will not win any Test. They won the very first one. India do not lose at home that frequently. We are a tough side to beat. Even the unavailability of Virat Kohli, Shami and Rahul has been digested. They will have to wait for the England side to play in Australia before passing a judgement. The wickets in Australia will be much more quicker which will help the brand of cricket.