The Baz ball Approach-- Will it Survive ?
I post this on the eve of the
start of the Fourth test between India and England , knowing fully well that England is not going
to change its approach to playing test cricket away from the Baz ball approach
.
Having gone one up in the
series in the first test with a win that
was possible due to the aggressive
approach to go after the bowling , England suffered two reverses in the
following tests . While the test at Vizag was fought closely , the one at Rajkot
, England lost the match by well over400 runs ( 434 to be precise ) .. That is
like being beaten hollow to say the least. Now what caused this heavy defeat ?
To me , it was playing the
way they did without understanding the match situation and being relevant in
the approach that led to Eng losing by such a huge margin. India scored 445 runs
in its first knock and England responded with 319 – Not bad at all – But close
to 50 % came from the bat of one player.. Ben Duckett – Duckett could have been dismissed
N number of times during his knock but it was his day and he literally swept
every delivery from all the bowlers- When Duckett batted , one felt bad for the
bowlers for the tonking they got . Everything he seemed to attempt came off and
all of that he tried were unorthodox shots ( Reverse sweeps , switch hits ,
Tennis balls smashes etc. )—But other batters could not replicate what he did—This
was because they were relying on pulling it off with luck rather than playing
it with technique which is such an important
factor when you are playing Test Cricket. Take Joe Root -- of all people he reverse
swept ( what do you call that shot he
played )a fast ball from Bumrah to the slips !! Joe Root is one player who has
played Test Cricket the traditional way with sound technique and has scored tons of runs and won matches playing it that way .
The approach seems to be Hit
or miss type – And this will never succeed in the longer format of the game
is my view
- Yes Baz ball approach is exciting to watch
and produces results in Test
matches and in less than the five days that it is played normally /
- To the crowd , it is like watching T 20—You
get confused – Have they reverted to playing T20 in whites rather than Color
clothing ?
- The approach has made everyone sit up and
watch.
- England has taken the Test Cricket by
storm using this . And every England player has signed up to it. If you
get out playing some stupid shot without understanding the match situation
, it does not matter and no one in
the dressing room will talk about it . ( I remember Kapil Dev getting dropped
for playing what was called an irresponsible shot in a Test match)
- It has brought the English crowds back on
its feet. This time , there seems to be so many of the travelers from
England who have come to India to watch their team dish out this form of
cricket.
- It has given the players freedom to express themselves –
- 7. Will this approach survive ? It may not in my view if the results continue to be disastrous – But, we have to credit McCullum and Stokes for taking this on and showing how test cricket can be different – Hats off to them for doing this … But I do think they have gone overboard with the approach . I am sure the Baz ball approach does not say that you will play that way and loose matches. Matches need not be lost , they can saved also by drawing and that is the opportunity that Test Cricket provides. May be they want a result one way or the other
Interesting two tests ahead –
It may determine whether the Baz ball approach is going to survive or not. My gut
says , England is going to loose its way … What say ? Rohit and his men will be
happy with the English Approach 😊
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