IND vs ENG: Bazball is not going anywhere, but there’s a caveat

England’s massive 434-run loss to India in the third Test in Rajkot, its largest defeat in terms of runs since World War Two, has sparked a wide-ranging debate around the Bazball approach, with former cricketers and the English press claiming it is at a crossroads.

First, let’s look at the facts. On the third day, England commenced its innings trailing India by 238 runs, positioned at 207-2, with Ben Duckett, the overnight centurion, and Joe Root, at the crease. With India deprived of the services of premier off-spinner R. Ashwin due to a personal emergency, England had a favourable opportunity to assert dominance. However, instead of adopting a methodical approach against a fast bowler with a historical advantage and a 40-over old ball, Root chose to execute a reverse scoop just 20 minutes into the day’s play against Jasprit Bumrah, resulting in his dismissal for 18.

It triggered a slide, leading to the loss of the last eight wickets for a mere 95 runs. Root’s shot selection was criticised, and England’s imprudent tactics came under scrutiny. Notably, Root has played the reverse scoop 23 times in Tests, accumulating 60 runs, and falling to it twice since playing it first at Trent Bridge in 2022. To compound England’s challenges, Duckett squandered an opportunity by offering a straightforward catch to cover off Kuldeep Yadav’s wide delivery, marking a point of no return for the team.

Under Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, England had won 14 of its previous 20 Tests, thanks to this very swashbuckling batting that has now become the eye of the storm.

Now, they head to Ranchi trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, with a quick turnaround for the fourth Test starting on February 23. Duckett, with a playful smile on the third evening in Rajkot, said, “The more the target, the better. They can have as many as they want, and we’ll go and get them.” It’s time to consider the team’s expectations and the impact of Bazball. Is it distracting the players, and has its influence waned? The answers are connected, but a simple response would be No. Bazball remains influential, provided it avoids self-sabotage.

Bazball has brought significant success to England, including thrilling victories in the first summer against New Zealand and South Africa, a remarkable 3-0 series win in Pakistan, and the impressive comeback to draw the 2023 Ashes. In contrast, under Root’s captaincy, England had won only one Test in 17 matches since the winter of 2020–21, and the attempted “red-ball reset” in the Caribbean was a spectacular failure. Notably, in 2023, England made history in Pakistan, including a record-breaking 506 for 4 on the opening day in Rawalpindi, the most runs ever scored on day one of a Test.

But does this mean all’s well? No. A more genuine note of criticism is that McCullum and Stokes need to evolve the team. Opponents watching this ongoing series will learn how to defend against England at home, to sit deep, and to attack its defensive frailties. The frustration is that there are genuine fundamental flaws here that tend to get lost in the wider hysteria.

For instance, England’s bowling combination in this series doesn’t match its strong batting ambitions. Spinners Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley, with only one Test cap and a combined 64 First-Class wickets before the series, led the spin attack in Rajkot. With Shoaib Bashir, just one Test old, and the most experienced Jack Leach sidelined with a knee injury, Root was persisted as the third spin option for the third Test. In contrast, the three Indian spinners combined have over 800 Test wickets!

The pitch in Hyderabad supported spin more than the surfaces in the next two Tests, where the wickets were relatively flat, and only the odd balls turned sharply, that too on the third and fourth days. Given the inexperience in the English spin ranks, expect the surfaces in Ranchi and Dharamsala to be slightly similar.

The pace department faces challenges too. Without Stokes bowling, England relies on two specialist frontline quicks, including the 41-year-old veteran James Anderson. In contrast, during the 2021 tour to India, Stokes, a fast-bowling all-rounder, complemented the pace attack, adding flexibility to the team’s composition. And given the rate of implosion of England’s batting order, both Mark Wood and Anderson had to bowl on each of the three days at a sun soaked Niranjan Shah Stadium, leaving them visibly exhausted by the end of it. How they recover before Ranchi will also be keenly watched.

Trickle down to the batting, and there is a Root-sized hole there. The No. 4 has been England’s batting mainstay for nearly a decade now, especially in the subcontinent, where the conditions seem to amplify his strengths. But Root has 77 runs across six innings in this series.

The shot selection in the second innings in Rajkot belied a player of Root’s calibre. Root had famously started day four of the first Ashes Test last year by trying to play the exact same shot to Australia captain Pat Cummins. Then too Root was not out overnight. The difference is England was on top there and under the pump here.

He has Stokes’ backing though, who said, “Joe Root’s scored nearly 12,000 runs, I think we can leave the decision-making and ‘why’ with Joe. I can understand why there would be frustration around that because of how good a player Joe is.

“Jasprit Bumrah has gotten him out a couple of times this tour early on. And I thought Joe was looking really, really good at the crease, and he sensed that as a time to put something different back on Jasprit and make him think about something. Because what that shot does for Joe is, it makes fields change, makes bowlers’ mindsets change towards him. He got out to it, and it’s not a shot you necessarily see Test match players playing. But look, who am I to question a guy who has 30 Test match hundreds—nearly 12,000 Test match runs? I think he knows what he’s doing.”

Stokes is right, but only partly. He is right in that a batter with over 10,000 Test runs is of immense value, but only so far as he knows what his role is in this team. The realisation that not everyone needs to ‘Bazball’ is of utmost importance here. Even Stokes doesn’t, instead playing the situation and the attack in front of him.

The batters just need to adopt a more circumspect and smart approach when the odds are against them. Root needs to revisit the technique and temperament that have catapulted him to the upper echelons of the Test game.

At the end of the day, what should irk McCullum and Stokes is that they have now lost two Ashes Tests by narrow margins of two wickets and 43 runs, respectively, and ceded an early advantage in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot, when just a fleeting departure from absolute commitment to their philosophy could’ve tilted the fortunes in their favour. 

India’s Test record at home is phenomenal. It hasn’t lost a series here since 2012; it doesn’t merely beat opponents; it steamrolls them. That’s why this series has been fun so far because Rohit’s men have been forced to do something they aren’t used to at home — fight hard and overcome odds. It’s a sign England is doing something right.

But ultimately it all boils down to this — England’s Bazball approach may have altered the countenance of the format but not its DNA. Test cricket is still played over five days and not five sessions, and so long as they acknowledge — the key word here — that virtues like grit and resilience aren’t outdated, Bazball will stay in vogue.