England’s ‘Bazball’ approach might have worked well for them as a unit and yielded the desired results under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. However, the high-tempo batting approach has had its adverse effects on the performance of a few individuals in the side, especially the ones preferring to operate with a traditional Test batting approach.
One such example is former English captain Joe Root, who has struggled to find form, posting scores of 29, 2, 5, and 16 in the first two Tests against India. In fact, his dismissal off an ugly hoick after facing mere 10 deliveries for 16 runs in the second innings at Visakhapatnam, was viewed as one of those ill effects of Bazball, leaving many former English captains, including Mike Atherton, fuming at his unorthodox dismissal.
Ahead of the second Test, Root was even seen batting left-handed in the nets as part of England’s plans to resort to reverse sweeps to counter the spin-friendly conditions in India.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes that Root, one of England’s most prolific run-getters in the longest format, should stick to his conservative approach and avoid being swayed away by Bazball.
“They are in fifth gear from ball one. I don’t mind some of them playing like that because they are better for it. But Joe Root should forget it. He has 10,000 Test runs playing like Joe Root. He doesn’t need to be a Bazballer,” Vaughan wrote in the UK Telegraph.
“It is time for someone in the management to put an arm around Joe and say “please just be yourself”. I think it’s as simple as the fact that he is too wrapped up in Bazball, the whole ethos of excitement and entertainment,” he further wrote.
Terming Root the “best player of spin” alongside Graham Gooch in English cricket history, Vaughan stated that it was frustrating to see the right-handed batter “gifting” his wicket away in the second Test.
“This is particularly important against spin. Along with Graham Gooch, Root is the best player of spin England has ever produced. To see him bat the way he did in the second innings, that’s not Root, and it’s not the way England are going to win in India, just gifting wickets away,” Vaughan wrote.
Vaughan also cautioned England that the Bazball approach could lead to missed opportunities while citing the example of the drawn Ashes series last year. “I do worry that they might become a team who do all this great work only to not actually win very much. They didn’t win the Ashes when they should have done and now they have let India back into a series when they still have a load of big names, including Virat Kohli, to come back.”
“England have done a lot right on this tour so far and I genuinely believe they can win. But to do that, they need to smarten up their batting, and fast,” he added.
While England managed to begin their tour with a successful 28-run win in the opening Test in Hyderabad, Ben Stokes & Co lost the second game in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs, allowing the hosts to level the five-match rubber 1-1.