Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that the result of the ongoing Ashes series and the away series against India could define the future of their famous ‘Bazball’ approach. However, England adopted an aggressive approach to Test cricket when Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and head coach respectively as well. And, they have played with that approach in the ongoing first Test against Australia at Edgbaston, Birmingham as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Brendon McCullum has said he doesn’t agree with ‘Bazball’, that it’s not a philosophy, but the philosophy has changed. England’s playing style has changed. Thinking about a change is easy and it is easy to implement it as well at the start because you have the conviction. The question comes when you lose. Then you feel whether it is right or wrong. This entire Ashes will tell how far their philosophy goes and it will be even more interesting when they come to India, that whether they will be able to continue with this philosophy there.”
READ MORE: Harbhajan Singh says Australia have the upperhand in the WTC final
However, England faced a 3-1 reversal on their 2021 Test tour of India and it will be interesting to see if they stick to their attacking approach on their next trip to India as well. The veteran also opined on England’s dismal run at the 2015 World Cup as well. Notably, England have won 11 of the 13 Tests with an aggressive approach as well.
Aakash Chopra stated: “At times, when you are at the lowest ebb, you can only go in one direction. Then you say that you have tried everything, so can try this one as well. If you get success, that becomes your brand of cricket. I think that’s what happened after the 2015 World Cup debacle. England said they will play a different style of ODI cricket and there will be a complete commitment to that, they will play the same way whether they win or lose, even if they get all out for 150.”
READ MORE: Sanjay Manjrekar dissects Virat Kohli’s poor show in WTC Final
“Then when Brendon McCullum became the coach and Ben Stokes became the captain, they said let’s change Test cricket too as they weren’t performing great in any case. So why can’t they do in Tests what they were doing in ODIs and T20Is? These are exciting times and England cricket is super-super exciting,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
