Bazball can work in India: Sunil Gavaskar
Under the leadership of Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, England revolutionized Test matches by playing an aggressive brand of cricket. It gave them a lot of success in the recent past but there are question marks on its potential in the spin-friendly conditions of India. Notably, the Three Lions are yet to lose a series ever since Stokes took over the captaincy but the upcoming five-match series against India will be extremely challenging, as the majority of the cricketers don’t have enough experience in tackling Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Despite so, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that the philosophy of ‘Bazball’ can work in India. He explained that the boundaries are generally small these days and if England bats well, they can put on a good score on the board. The 74-year-old added that the visitors will try to attack the spinners to put pressure on them.
“It can work in India, it can. If you look at it, in the last few years, the boundaries have become smaller. The bats have become better and better and even mishits are flying over the boundary. I think the England batters will try to attack the spinners out of the game. They will try to hit them into the stands. Yes, they might get dismissed in the process, but you create a mentality,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“Our spinners also play a lot of T20 cricket. What’s your mentality in T20 cricket, there it’s okay if you don’t pick up wickets, but you are careful not to concede sixes or boundaries. Your flight and line… you tend to change it,” he added.
England to reach India on Monday ahead of Test series to be played against India
Meanwhile, England is expected to reach India on Monday, January 22, three days before the first Test in Hyderabad. They set up a preparatory camp in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the batters were challenged against spinners. Upon reaching India, the Ben Stokes-led side is expected to have two practice sessions, before the first Test on January 25.
