'It is defenceless cricket,' says India spinner Ravi Ashwin about Bazball after series victory over England
Ravi Ashwin after taking wicket on day 4 of the second Test. (Source: @BCCI)
India's ace spinner Ravichandran has said that 'Bazball' is not just aggressive cricket but defenceless. Ashwin made the comments after India's 4-1 win series victory over England in the recently-concluded five-Test series. The spinner was the most successful bowler of the series - taking 26 wickets in five matches.
“The one thing that I personally understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket,” he said. “It is defenceless cricket," said Ashwin on his YouTube channel. "They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defence."
Ashwin also expressed surprise over England's Joe Root taking the Bazball approach despite being one of the best defence batters in world cricket. Root was also criticised by former England players for playing rash shots and giving away his wickets during crunch situations in the series.
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"To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s best defence rankings, Joe Root is an easy No.1 on that list against spin. He also bought into their approach,” Ashwin added.
England had a winning start to the series by beating India in the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad. Things, however, soon went haywire for the visitors as in the next four Tests,they lost by 106 runs in Vizag, 434 runs in Rajkot, five wickets in Ranchi and an innings & 64 runs in Dharamsala.
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England just couldn't keep up the fight with India in either batting or bowling and much of the onus lies on their seniors. With India short of Virat Kohli in the entire series, KL Rahul for four Tests and Ravindra Jadeja for the second Test in addition to an inexperienced middle order, England had a chance to capitalise but they failed.
