England have been lauding itself for reviving and saving Test cricket with their Bazball approach. Former and current English cricketers have credited the active Test squad for regenerating the interest of fans in red-ball cricket. England Test captain Ben Stokes has often opined on the need to adopt the attacking brand of cricket in five-day matches. According to him, England are not afraid to concede the games. Their style back-fired in the five-match Test series as the visitors were thumped 1-4 by India.
Ravichandran Ashwin finds Bazball attractive till the time it is on an individual basis. In his conversation on The Club Prairie Fite”s podcast, he highlighted what is wrong with England.
“They are playing a brand of cricket which they think is right for them. It is absolutely fine to have a playing style, but it should be restricted to individual players. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett can play Bazball cricket because they have that kind of shots in their arsenal.
“However, it you can’t force a group of 11 players to believe in it. When all the players start thinking that they can play a certain brand of cricket, the problem starts. Look at Joe Root. He is a wonderful Test cricketer, who has the right technique. But he struggled India in initial games. I know he hit reverse scoop and reverse sweep during the Ashes but you can’t do it everytime. England are allowed the rivals to defeat them by not respecting the conditions and the situation of the game,” R Ashwin said.
The legendary spinner, who completed 500 Test wickets, also mocked England’s habit of branding themselves as the savior of Test cricket.
“It is funny when they say that they have revived and saved Test cricket by playing Bazball brand of cricket. For.me, they are doing the marketing and PR of the format and nothing else,” he added.
Ravichandran Ashwin is playing for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2024.