Last Update: February 28, 2023, 12:21 IST
Ravichandran Ashwin took five wickets in Australia’s second innings. (AP Photo)
Ravichandran Ashwin Says England’s ‘Baseball’ Approach Has Both ‘Pros And Cons’
Ravichandran Ashwin recently pointed out that England’s ‘baseball’ approach to playing cricket can backfire in certain circumstances.
The term ‘buzzball’ has gained popularity since last summer as the English men’s cricket team adopted an attacking style of cricket under new coach Brendon McCullum, nicknamed ‘Baz’, and captain Ben Stokes.
Since the change of leadership, England have won 10 of their last 12 Tests, including a 3–0 whitewash in Pakistan. But in the Second Test against New Zealand at Wellington, England suffered a surprising collapse and a narrow one-run defeat.
“Now we have a concept called Baazball. England are playing high-speed Test match cricket. They want to play a certain kind of cricket. But on certain types of wickets, when you try to attack every ball, So you stumble. This approach has both advantages and disadvantages,” Ashwin said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Some would ask instead of defending and getting all out on 100, I would rather hit it hard and get all out on 140. We’ll only know when the game is over whether the approach worked. Sometimes the conditions on the wicket have to be respected. If you respect the pitch and play accordingly, the pitch will respect you. If you respect the pitch, you will get the benefit of it.
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Actually, England had won India India, the last team to do so, beat MS Dhoni’s men 2-1 in the 2012-13 tour. However, England lost their next two tours – by margins of 4–0 and 3–1 respectively.
England will travel to Bangladesh for a limited overs series after their Test series against New Zealand, who incidentally are not part of the squad. World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle. They will face Australia in the home Ashes later this summer in what will be Stokes and McCullum’s biggest challenge yet.
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