Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has added that England did not follow the so-called Bazball approach on Day 1 of the third Test. He added that the hosts scored at an average of just over three runs per over as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Where is the Bazball, sir? There used to be a thing called Bazball, where is it nowadays? It’s being said that it’s lost somewhere in St John’s Wood, because you played the entire day and scored only 250 runs. This was Joe Root’s slowest half-century in the Bazball era. Ever since the era started, he had started hitting, and many times we asked the question why he was in such a hurry. Let others play as they want, but Joe Root is like the root of a tree. So, he too realized that he hadn’t scored runs in the first two matches and that he would bat respectfully now.”

However, Aakash Chopra shared that the England batters have started saying that they are smart enough not to bat aggressively every time as well.

“Bazball was totally discarded, no matter who the batter was, from No. 1 to Ben Stokes. Now all of them have started saying that they are not mad, that they say they want to win, but can also play for a draw, that’s also an option. They know they have to play fast, but they have the option to play slow too,” he said.

“Sometimes, when you don’t have a good second option, or you aren’t playing that well, then you look for those routes, and that’s exactly what has happened. Only 250 runs being scored on the first day, it’s a rarity in today’s day and age. No team plays so slow, and people who talk about Bazball don’t play like that at all. However, this time you saw that they were very, very slow,” Aakash Chopra concluded.