The word ‘Bazball’ has become synonymous with the Ben Stokes-led England Test team that has been availing the coaching services of Brendon McCullum. Through the attacking approach, the English team under the Stokes-McCullum duo has won ten of the last eleven Test matches.
While many across the world are hailing and backing England’s aggressive style of play in red-ball format, India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin isn’t quite convinced with such a batting approach.
Speaking about the same on his official YouTube channel, the 36-year-old Tamil Nadu cricketer said that the bazball approach would, without a doubt, falter in certain kinds of conditions.
“You can’t whack as you do in a T20. Secondly, we now have a concept called Bazball. England is playing fast-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,” said Ashwin.
The world’s no. 2 ranked Test bowler further explained his point by sharing the advice he got from his former coach and stated: “WV Raman used to tell me, “Hello, mister. Don’t challenge the conditions. Will you go to a beach and start swimming as you do in a swimming pool? You can’t, right? Likewise, if you should respect the pitch and play accordingly, the pitch will also respect you.”
Ashwin will next be seen in action in the third Test of the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 that will be played in Indore from March 1. Notably, with the help of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, India won the first two games against Australia and now leads the series 2-0.
On the other hand, England are currently on their New Zealand tour facing the hosts in the second Test of the two-match leg. The touring party won the first game against the Kiwis by mammoth 267 runs.
