England’s ‘Bazball’ faces toughest task yet in India series

England’s “Bazball” style of
attacking cricket faces its biggest challenge yet when they play an India
side who have not lost a home Test series in more than a decade.

The five-Test series begins Thursday in Hyderabad, and although India will be
without Virat Kohli for the first two matches because of personal reasons,
they start as clear favourites.

But it was England who were the last team to beat India on home turf, when
Alastair Cook’s team won a four-match series 2-1.

Monty Panesar, who was part of that team, said the tourists had nothing to
fear in a series where spin is expected to play a huge part.

“England have got every chance of winning Test matches out there,” the former
England spinner told talkSPORT.

“They’ve got to have a positive mindset. Ben Stokes himself, he’s got to
think, ‘Can I make Bazball successful on turning pitches?’

“That’s obviously going to be his biggest challenge.”

Skipper Stokes and England prepared in Abu Dhabi instead of playing a tour
match in India, which drew criticism in some quarters at home and raised
fears England could be “undercooked”.

Underlining the scale of the task facing England, Panesar added: “If he wins
in India he will probably be known as one of the greatest captains ever to
captain England, and one of the greatest captains ever in Test cricket.”

India and England drew 2-2 in their last series meeting in England in 2021-
22.

– ‘Superhuman’ –

England coach Brendon McCullum has helped transform England’s red-ball
fortunes since joining forces with Stokes in 2022, the pair taking over a
team that had won just one of its previous 17 Tests.

England have since won 13 out of 18 Tests under the duo, playing an attacking
brand of cricket dubbed “Bazball” in reference to former New Zealand captain
McCullum’s nickname.

But there were the first murmurings of dissent towards the all-action
approach in the 2-2 home Ashes draw with Australia last summer.

Veteran pace bowler James Anderson and senior batsman Joe Root are the only
two surviving members of England’s last Test triumph in India.

The 41-year-old Anderson is 10 short of 700 Test wickets.

“Jimmy is superhuman. People have been anticipating he will retire for about
seven years now and he keeps surprising people,” former teammate Steven Finn
said.

“He didn’t have a fantastic summer last year, but knowing him as a character,
he wouldn’t be doing this (touring India) unless he felt he could make a
difference.”

Anderson will lead England’s bowling after the retirement of pace partner
Stuart Broad following the Ashes, which were retained by Australia.

Jack Leach will be crucial to the tourists as their frontline spinner in a
department that otherwise has two uncapped players including Tom Hartley and
Shoaib Bashir.

Despite his advancing years, Root stands tall in a batting department that
also boasts Jonny Bairstow, Stokes and Ollie Pope.

– Spin to win? –

India recently drew a two-match Test series in South Africa, before a 3-0
Twenty20 International sweep of Afghanistan at home ahead of the T20 World
Cup in June.

But they are a different proposition on the turning tracks at home.

Top players including skipper Rohit Sharma will switch back to Test mode in
the matches, which will carry points for the World Test Championship.

India are second behind Australia in the championship table.

England languish in eighth and will need wins in the India series if they
want to play the final at Lord’s next year.

With spin expected to be so important, India are banking on the experience of
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. They have a combined Test wicket
tally of 765.

On the batting front, Kohli’s absence for the first two matches will hurt
India, but he is expected to return for the third Test.

Kohli averages 56 in Tests against England in India including three
centuries.

The series will be an opportunity for up-and-coming players including
Yashasvi Jaiswal and wicketkeeper-batsman K.S. Bharat to prove their mettle
in the longer format. (BSS/AFP)