Bazball in India will be fascinating: Nasser Hussain

Ever since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took charge of England in the longest format of the game, they have completely changed the complexion of the national team. Under their leadership, the Three Lions have been more aggressive and have won 14 out of 18 Test matches. In the recently concluded Ashes 2023, they have bounced back from being 2-0 down and that shows the kind of mentality they have at the moment.

Meanwhile, ever since the completion of the series against Australia, England’s skipper has been asked if their ‘Bazball’ philosophy will work against India in the subcontinent. Ben Stokes replied saying that only time will answer the question. On the other hand, former England captain Nasser Hussain has stated that the series against India will be fascinating as it is not going to be easy for the visiting team to play the same brand of cricket against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

“England have options. It’s the next Test for Bazball. They said Bazball will work against one side, then they moved on to the next side. Then they moved on to New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan. The next challenge is India and everyone knows India in India is one of the sternest challenges in Test match cricket. It’s Bazball against spin. Bazball against Ravi Ashwin, (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar Patel and that is going to be fascinating,” Hussain said while taking to ICC.

Nasser Hussain counts England’s strengths

The 55-year-old added saying that he expects Jack Leach to recover by that time and wants England to pick Rehan Ahmed as the second spinner. He also mentioned that the visiting team may need an extra pacer in the mix and thus wants the selection committee to consider Surrey pacer Gus Atkinson.

“Jack Leach will (hopefully) be back and Rehan Ahmed is a very good second spinner, as we saw in Pakistan. Josh Tongue has bowled really well. Ollie Robinson is a very skilful bowler. Unfortunately, someone like Olly Stone is injured and obviously, Jofra Archer is injured. You need that extra pace as well in India. So England have got…they’ve got that lad (Gus) Atkinson at Surrey, who has a lot of good things being said about him,” Hussain mentioned.