 "In Numbers | 'Bazball' upended by Indian cricket team - what's gone wrong for England")
England, and their famed ‘Bazball’ approach, has been brought into question in their last two Test series. First, Australia tested it in the Ashes last year - which finished 2-2 . The cracks started to appear after England lost from a winnable position in the opening Test . In India, though, it has been ripped further apart.
Having won the opener in Hyderabad, England have been beaten by 106 runs , 434 runs and 5-wickets in the three Tests that followed in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot and Ranchi respectively. It has allowed India to take an unassailable 3-1 lead and inflicted the first series defeat on the famed approach.
England coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes came together to revive the team’s Test fortunes in the summer of 2022. Their aggressive brand of cricket - in batting, bowling and fielding - caught teams by surprise. So much that they won 10 of their 12 Tests, a success rate of 83.33%, under Bazball by May 2023. That has changed to 14 wins in 22 Tests, dropping to 63.63% success, after the loss in Ranchi.
Before England descended into Hyderabad, they had won 13 of 18 Test matches under Bazball for a success rate of 72.22%. 13 of these Test matches were played in home conditions. The remaining five came on tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. Arguably, New Zealand offers the same conditions as England with pitches favouring seamers - even though that series ended in a 1-1 draw.
Are England scoring less?
Before the India series, England were scoring an average of 588.83 runs, losing an average of 15 wickets in the process while facing in excess of 122 overs on an average.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn the ongoing series, England have scored on an average 51 runs less (537.5 runs), been dismissed in both innings on each occasion although they’re playing 18 overs more (140 overs).
England’s scoring rate and partnerships have also dropped on the tour. The Stokes-led side were accumulating 44.42 runs per wicket before this series got underway. That has been just about halved to 26.88 in the four Test matches.
The team primed itself in getting big scores, going after bowlers and putting the pressure back on the opposition. That is apparent with England scoring 5.21 runs per over from the 35 innings they played before the India tour.
That, too, has seen a decline in the last four matches. England have been scoring at 3.77 runs per over in the seven innings they’ve played on this journey. Only in Visakhapatnam did England go after the Indian bowling with 4.53 and 4.21 runs per over in the two innings.
How are England faring with the ball?
When bowling, England were restricting the opposition to 559 runs on an average while picking 18 wickets. In fact, England were able to bowl the opposition out in both innings on 14 instances (from 18). The one time they couldn’t even reach the second innings was August 2022 when South Africa inflicted an innings and 12 run defeat on them at Lord’s.
However, England were being made to toil in the field to get the job done. They bowled on an average 1009 balls, or 168 overs, before the series against India.
Yet, such has been England’s command with the ball in this era that India, under Rohit Sharma, became the first team to declare on them in Rajkot. With Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan unbeaten in the middle, the skipper gestured for them to return to the dressing room at 430/4 amid a lead of 556 runs.
India scored an average of 665 runs in reply to England’s bowling, over a 100 runs more on an average than they had been seeing. Further, England were able to dismiss India fully only in the first two Tests. In total England have picked 69 wickets in the four Tests for an average of 17.25 wickets.
As India score more, they’ve batted longer and kept England out in the sun for longer as well. England have thrown 1161 balls (~193 overs) in the series on an average - which is 25 overs more than they were doing.
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