In the aftermath of the five-match Test series between Team India and England, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin offered his perspective on England’s Bazball strategy. Ashwin expressed that England arrived in India with a mindset geared towards aggressive play, emphasizing their decision to rely less on defensive tactics.
In his recent YouTube video, the experienced Indian spinner commented:
“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket, it is defenceless cricket. They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defence.”
Ashwin also found it unexpected that England’s prominent batsman Joe Root adjusted his typical playing style to align with the team’s strategy. He remarked:
“To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s best defence rankings, Joe Root is an easy number 1 on that list against spin.”
All five matches in the series concluded with decisive outcomes. Ashwin asserted that if Australia had faced India on the same pitches, a couple of draws might have occurred.
“There were many times in this series when I thought, if this were against Australia instead of England, we could have seen two draws instead of results. At least one, because of the classic cricket pitches.”
“But because of this new English approach to going for the kill, they put us under very unique pressure. Them playing three sessions is equal to us playing six in terms of runs scored, and so every match was bound to go for a result,” Ashwin added.
England initiated the tour with a 28-run triumph over India in Hyderabad. Yet, they couldn’t replicate this success in the subsequent matches, leading to the Men in Blue securing a comprehensive 4-1 series victory.
“It felt like they’d gone too far” -Ashwin’s reaction to Anderson’s comments on England chasing 600
In the second Test of the series in Visakhapatnam, James Anderson expressed in a press conference that England had the capability to chase a 600-run target in the fourth innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin, however, believes that the English players were overly ambitious in their aggressive approach. He stated:
“James Anderson went to a press conference in the second Test after winning the first considerably well. Much respect to them for winning that. He told the press that, even if the 4th inning target is 500 or 600, we’ll finish it in 60 overs. Even though it was an example of their positive mindset, it felt like they’d gone too far.”
England, in the end, couldn’t successfully pursue the 399-run target in the second Test, resulting in a 106-run loss.
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