India vs England: The 'Bazball' effect on England Test Cricket - A steep challenge for India

In February of 2014, the Indian team had travelled to New Zealand for a two-match Test series. New Zealand won the first match, by a margin of 40 runs. McCullum had punished the Indian bowlers with a 224-run innings. India bounced back strongly in the second match and gained a stupendous first-innings lead of 246 runs. To further push their cause to win the match, they rattled the Kiwi top order in the second innings. Enter Brendon McCullum . With the score reading at 52/3, McCullum came to bat in a situation when the home fans might have lost any hopes of saving the Test match. But he took the game to the visiting bowlers and scored, much to the dislike of the Indian fans, 302 runs of 559 balls. India were eventually set a target of 435 runs. New Zealand couldn’t push the win but had drawn the match and won the series. Since then McCullum has not faced India in a Test match. On 1 July as India play against England in the rescheduled Test match, McCullum will face India, albeit in a different capacity. The Kiwi ‘keeper took over the role of England’s head coach in May 2022 and since then his ideology of ‘Bazball’ has proliferated over the entire English team. A fine instance of the ‘Bazball’ is the third Test match between England and New Zealand last week. After New Zealand posted an able score of 360 in the first innings, Trent Boult skittled the English top order literally and metaphorically. England were six down for a score of 55 and it seemed like they will lose the match miserably despite having already won the series. But Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton turned the fate of the match as they stitched a partnership of 241 runs in 274 balls. The momentum carried over to the second innings when England chased down 296 in just over 54 overs, scoring at a run rate of 5.44 per over. In fact England had swept the series 3-0  winning all the matches chasing the targets of 277, 299, and 296 respectively with ease. Following such performance, it might be difficult to digest that three months ago England managed to breach the 200-run mark only four times in 10 innings. Probably they were waiting for McCullum’s dressing room pep talk to change their game. Probably not. But this England are different from the one that was a month ago. And hence, for the first time in a while, the opposition is being given more attention than India. This might itself put the visitors in a bit of unease. The English cricketing fraternity was able to put up more drama than a daily soap when they were turned to ‘Ashes’ against Australia. There were doubts about several players. There was doubt about the captain. There was doubt about their county cricket as well. James Anderson and Stuart Broad were subsequently dropped. But now with McCullum looking after the affairs, things look in a much better place. Although they had to change their captain. The captain as well has complemented the coach’s energy to a great extent. He beats McCullum’s energy in the dressing room. “I’m aggressive but Ben’s got me covered,” said McCullum after the third Test match. With the two energetic and charismatic leaders at the helm, the mood in the dressing room has been emboldened. The return of ever young Anderson and Broad, Joe Root’s improvisation of batting style, and Jack Leach bowling in the first hour of an English Test match are all illustrations of it. But the best illustration of the uplifted mood is Jonny Bairstow’s change as a batter. The ‘keeper-batter managed 184 runs in the first four Tests of the series. In his current form, there are chances he might manage another 184 in the two innings. It seems as if Bairstow was waiting for this very moment of Stokes leading the side and McCullum coaching to change his Test career. Joe Root has been enjoying a never-ending purple patch for quite some time now. But he had never changed his ‘great orthodox batter’ image until this month. For a while, he showed his spoilt side, and disrespected the bowlers, playing reverse ramp shots to Neil Wagner and Trent Boult. He scored 396 runs, but with a strike rate of 74.15 against his career strike rate of 55.21. The ‘Bazball’ ideology had entered his veins.

BazBall = ridiculous test cricket 😍😍

pic.twitter.com/dBoEjdbZtQ

— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) June 26, 2022

The return of the pace duo of Anderson and Broad has also added to the experience of the side. While Broad scalped 12 wickets in the three against New Zealand, Anderson was a touch better bagging 11 wickets in two games. How will India tackle the Bazball effect? India might feel the giddiness but would never open up about it. Coach Rahul Dravid in a media interaction said that picking 20 wickets is also positive cricket and his side has been able to do that consistently for quite some time now. He also said that they aren’t focused on the brand of cricket their opposition will play. This might be true since Virat Kohli has changed the beliefs and established for quite some time now. But Cheteshwar Pujara or Mayank Agarwal are never going to reverse-ramp Anderson. The battle will largely be between India’s bowling and England’s batting, which has shown promise in recent times. The battle will also be between two very different coaches — Rahul Dravid (The Wall) and Brendon McCullum (The Wall breaker). The Anderson vs Kohli battle although, will nevertheless be hyped. McCullum has had a simple philosophy with the bat. “If it is short and wide, cut. If it is short and high, pull. And if it is full and on the stumps, whack it straight,” McCullum had said in an ESPN Cricinfo interview. The ‘Bazball’ philosophy has now rubbed over the England side.

Brendon McCullum on "Bazball" pic.twitter.com/mpEeISrHhI

— Aatif Nawaz (@AatifNawaz) June 29, 2022

According to an excerpt from Cricket 2.0 by Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde, towards the end of his career, McCullum had launched his equipment brand named after his own bloodstock business Vermair Racing. Their logo adorned his bats above the tagline ‘never fear the air’. Because, as he explains, “There are no fielders up there”. India can definitely not put fielders up there. England will definitely play ‘Bazball’. The only question is if it will work out. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.