Bazball backfires as England slammed after historic loss to India, UK view, reaction, analysis, Ben Stokes

England’s ‘Bazball’ approach is once again under the microscope after a historic loss to India and while some of the nation’s most respected cricket voices are calling for change, it seems to be falling on deaf ears inside the touring dressing room.

In fact, Ben Stokes said England does not need to “temper anything” after pundits questioned his side’s aggressive tactics in a stunning 434-run defeat to India in the third Test.

While adding both he and his teammates may concede they could have executed better, on a broader scale Stokes was quick to reiterate he wouldn’t be demanding a tactical adjustment, even on slow and turning Indian pitches.

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“Our batting line-up is full of international class players,” he said.

“We give them the freedom to play what’s in front of them.”

That includes the reverse scoop on day three that saw Joe Root fall cheaply and that has been pinpointed by a number of English journalists and former cricketers as one of the key moments in the Test.

Scyld Berry of The London Telegraph wrote that it “has to rank as the worst, most stupid, shot in the history of England’s Test cricket”.

Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott branded it “inexplicable” in an exclusive audio recording for Telegraph Sport.

“It looks clever when it comes off,” Boycott said.

“When it doesn’t, it’s embarrassing and you look a chump. What a wasted wicket by such a talented player.”

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, tweeted: “Joe is far too good to gift India such a cheap wicket 20 mins into a crucial day when they are down to 10 players.”

And that is the wider point that most critics of that specific shot from Root were making.

While teammate Ben Duckett leapt to his defence questioning whether the same people were questioning Root when he was playing similar shots against Pat Cummins in the summer, former captain Nasser Hussain was quick to argue that response was missing the point.

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“Now, I don’t have a problem with him playing that stroke, because it’s one he’s executed very effectively in the past,” Hussain wrote in a column for The Daily Mail.

“But, when Ravichandran Ashwin is missing, when Ravindra Jadeja is being eased back into cricket by his captain. When Root’s nemesis of recent times in Jasprit Bumrah is playing his third Test in a row amid talk of needing a rest, I would question the timing of it.”

That is consistent with the argument Berry made in his column for The Telegraph, describing it as a “cardinal sin” from Root, who was visibly frustrated as he walked off the field.

“Root’s reverse-scoop at India’s most dangerous bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, wrecked England’s chances of winning this Test and this series,” Berry wrote.

“Never mind, for the moment, the team strategy of Bazball: what mattered was the situation of the game, the current circumstances, the here and now. And what Root did flew in the face of what everything dictated, as he himself realised in his moment of wisdom after the event, when he stomped off furious with himself.

“The cardinal sin in India is to give a wicket away, because one wicket usually brings two, or a cluster. Root made life difficult for Duckett. He made it impossible for Jonny Bairstow, who came in with fielders round the bat, the crowd stirred up, and immediately succumbed to India’s wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav. The wickets continued to tumble from there.”

It proved a critical moment and while England faded away in the second innings, Hussain asserted that this match was “lost in the first”.

“Make no mistake about that,” he wrote, pointing towards not just the Root dismissal but his dropped catch of Rohit Sharma when India was 47-3, one of several missed opportunities for the team as a whole.

England went on to lose their last eight wickets after Root’s reverse scoop gamble for 95 to give India a 126-run lead after the opening innings.

While the expectation would be that this kind of historic loss may serve as an important lesson for England, comments from players after the match instead suggest it could only embolden them to lean further into their ‘Bazball’ brand of play in the face of such criticism.

“Everyone has an opinion or a perception of things but the people in the dressing room really matter to us,” Stokes said when asked if England was too reckless.

He is right. Plenty of people have an opinion on what transpired over the weekend and usually it can be beneficial in professional sports to block the outside noise.

But Vaughan believes that has lead to a “Bazball bubble” which is to blame for the team’s worst defeat under Stokes’ leadership.

“England need to wake up and realise they cannot win playing just one way,” he wrote in The Telegraph.

“This England team are a bundle of energy and have already brought us huge excitement and joy. But surely a defeat this heavy has to be a wake-up call for Ben Stokes and his players.

“The way they played this week has gifted India a victory. I couldn’t believe my eyes the way they batted on day three, especially Joe Root’s shot.”

Going back to that shot in particular, Vaughan too referenced the counter-argument that Root played it successfully against Cummins. Like Hussain, he also pointed towards the context that was missing in the defence of Root on this occasion.

“I hear people say “but he played it against Pat Cummins!” and, yeah, he did. But England were on top when he did that. Here, they were 221 behind on day three in India, with the series finely poised,” Vaughan wrote.

“It’s a shot that really worries me. It shows England have learnt nothing from the Ashes. The collapse that followed was reminiscent of Lord’s, when Nathan Lyon hobbled off with England 182 for one, and they gifted them all those wickets. That’s why they lost that Test, not because Jonny Bairstow was stumped.

“When the message came through that Ashwin had gone, I bet no one mentioned Lord’s, because that’s deemed negative, and not the right message. That is claptrap. It’s called common sense, and learning from the mistakes of the past. No great sporting team has ever not learnt from past mistakes and improved. The coaches and senior players need to be having some tougher conversations to ensure they learn.”

And he isn’t the only one to draw a comparison with that Test match against Australia. Again, Hussain was on a similar wavelength and while the external noise can be deafening at times, these are two former England captains making the same point in a desperate attempt to convince their countrymen to listen.

“There were echoes of the second Ashes Test match at Lord’s last summer, when Nathan Lyon hobbled out for the series during the first innings and England messed up with their happy hooking, failing to beat half a dozen Australian fielders posted in the deep,” Hussain wrote.

“Not smart cricket.

“When the opposition have a bowler down, recognise the opportunity to grind out a score and boss the game.”

But looking at the historic defeat to India from a wider angle — beyond that questionable Root shot and the comparisons to those Nathan Lyon heroics — the message out of the UK media was consistent.

Bazball has its merits. But situational awareness is needed. Otherwise, as Hussain noted, if England doesn’t make any tweaks to its approach it risks Bazball becoming a “cult that can’t be questioned”.

“I am not asking them to alter their mantra, just to review the last couple of matches and ask themselves: how can we improve?” Hussain wrote.

“… Social media is full of comments rubbishing Bazball after this four-day defeat. On the second evening, when England closed on 207 for two, no one was questioning it. That was the time to be smart. To be ruthless. They weren’t. If you are neither of those things in India, you will come unstuck.”

Even BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, who wrote he has been “very positive” about England’s “so-called Bazball approach” from the start, believes it is now at a “crossroads”.

“From the start I have been very positive about their so-called Bazball approach,” he wrote.

“That’s because I saw for myself where England were almost two years ago in Grenada during the series defeat by West Indies that signalled the end of Joe Root’s captaincy. It was a disaster.

“What captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have done since with this exciting, aggressive approach has been a breath of fresh air.

“… But now, after England’s largest defeat in terms of runs since World War Two, the Bazball approach is at a crossroads.

“It got England out of their terrible trot of one win in 17 matches. It got them winning again, made people rave about their performances and brought eyes to the longest format.

“From that perspective, it has done its job, but if you want to be successful against the best teams you cannot play like that all the time.

“If you do you will lose and lose by 434 runs, as England did in Rajkot. Their attacking style should not be binned altogether, of course. But now is the time for this team to be more sensible, more flexible, in how they play.”

Just over a year ago England produced a 74-run win at Rawalpindi which had Hussain declaring it “one of the greatest Test match victories you will ever see”.

Stokes, meanwhile, touched in his post-match press conference on the team’s broader vision beyond just getting wins on the board — they also wanted to entertain.

“We don’t want Test cricket to fall off the face of the planet. It needs to stay around and we’ll do everything we can to keep it alive,” he said.

It all sounds great when you are winning. But now those aspirational words start to ring hollow, as if a way to convince everyone — including perhaps themselves — that they are playing for something greater than just wins and losses.

And it doesn’t sit well with Vaughan.

“This England team are hell bent on doing things their way, and “saving Test cricket”. They are giving Test cricket a shot in the arm because they are so exciting. But ultimately they have to be better than that now,” Vaughan wrote.

“They didn’t win in New Zealand, they didn’t win the Ashes, and if they carry on like this, they are going to lose in India. As a team, you are judged on series victories.

“… They talk about not playing for the draw, but to me that’s disrespectful to Test cricket. The draw is a crucial part of the game, and in five-Test contest has often provided the bedrock of some great series victories.

“They have to be careful that people around don’t think they are smug, or above their station. Root’s shot was another reminder that they are in a bubble.”

India may have just burst that Bazball bubble.