Fading defensive skills may spread Bazball fire

First things first, it wasn’t ‘Bazball’ when England chased down 378 to win the Edgbaston Test. It was traditional batting from two class players in the form of their lives. Also, the mundane facts like the pitch had flattened out and although we may think it was a Day 5 pitch, it had not seen much sun and much traffic on it because of rain interruptions, it was a pitch that had not aged much. It was actually a nice Day 3 pitch.

Having said that, to not connect Bazball in any way to the great last innings feat would not be right. Bazball’s success against New Zealand gave England batters the belief that they could achieve what’s been considered impossible for over 100 years. By way of shot selection, this wasn’t Bazball, but the positive mindset was an effect of the results that came from Bazball.

So what is this new thing in cricket, the Bazball approach? Well, it’s basically how Rishabh Pant has been batting in Tests for the last three years. A huge part of Pant’s batting and his great success in Tests is his attacking game but more importantly, the surprise element.

In Ahmedabad, when Pant played that famous reverse scoop against Jimmy Anderson who was running in to bowl his first over with the second new ball, that was classic Bazball.

Surprise the bowler by doing something that he least expects, and straightaway you have a slight edge in the contest. Especially, when forever in Tests, bowlers have been expecting batters to do the predictable thing... respect the bowler when the pressure is on. Pant has challenged convention already and now England as a team has embraced the same approach.

Now let’s examine if this approach is a good one and can be successful over the long term? Well, Pant has proved it can be as an individual, he has five 90s and five 100s in 31 Tests!

Granted, he may not have played the same way in every innings but because surprising the bowler is a big part of his batting, the bowlers are wary running in and hence bowl a little differently to him. There isn’t as much confidence and clarity of thought, as they would have bowling to someone like Pujara or even Virat for that matter.

It’s amazing how Test cricket is changing right in front of us, it’s almost like it’s trying to save itself. Pant and now England are infusing some real excitement and short-term unpredictability, which is bound to get some more people interested in watching Tests. There is also another reason why England are trying this new approach, for many years the old way has not been working for them so it’s basically a case of nothing to lose for them.

Had the traditional, old defensive way of blunting attacks put England on top of world cricket why would they want to change anything?

Other teams may also start adopting this approach for the simple reason that defensive batting is much harder to master for modern players. Defence was the only thing we practised in the 80s and 90s because we mostly trained for Test cricket, but now with the current cricket landscape leaving balls outside off and defending with a still bat, etc is just one of the many things batters practice and it’s certainly not on top of their agenda.

Bazball entails a batter surprising the bowler with attacking, aerial and out-of-the-box shots when the bowler is least expecting it, that’s a no-problem scenario for a ‘T20 bred’ batter of today.

Brendon McCullum, as coach, has given the license to his batters to go for it, if you saw Ben Stokes’ reaction when Bumrah took the catch it was of surprise and then a smile came on his face, he was not feeling sheepish or devastated to have got out like that at a crucial stage of a Test match. English players know they will not be crucified for getting out to what has been historically seen as a terrible way to get out in Tests, it’s like the T20 license covers Test cricket now.

I feel this approach may become widespread, take for example rank turners in India, overseas teams have all generally struggled on it, how about using Bazball again as a nothing to lose option?

Yes, it’s tougher to pull it off when the ball is turning a mile plus spinners offer you no pace to use to your advantage but then the logic would be, if defending hasn’t worked for all these years why not try this?

There aren’t too many Shane Warne’s going around in world cricket for bowling attacks to beat the Bazball threat so it’s got a lot going for itself currently.

Wonder if England would have got 379 if there was a Shane Warne-like bowler bowling nonstop from one end.