Bazball faces India's stern spin test

Hyderabad: India’s invincibility at home over the last decade is expected to come under a severe test as a young and courageous England, playing a brand of aggressive cricket that made them world champions in 2019 (ODI) and 2022 (T20), threaten to do the unthinkable with the potentially blockbuster five-match Test series kick-starting here from Thursday.

The reason why England, who were hammered 4-0 in the 2016-17 series and then beaten 3-1 in the previous series in 2020-21, feel confident about replicating their 2012-13 heroics, when they triumphed 2-1, is the so-called ‘Bazball’ - coined to describe aggressive Test batting incorporated by coach Brendon McCullum when he took over in May 2022.

Since the former New Zealand captain’s arrival, England have left a wreckage on their path while destroying opponents with breathless batting. It was a high-risk strategy England adopted with to lift the morale of the Test team whose form and confidence was in a shambles but the gamble has paid handsome dividends. They’ve lost just four Tests since employing Bazball and won a series in Pakistan and drew one in New Zealand. More importantly, it’s the exhilarating cricket they’ve dished out that has caught the imagination of fans, including the neutrals. 

So can Bazball, which England have maintained they’ll continue against India, work in India? Well it’s a tough one to answer but like coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma pointed out, they are not too flustered as they have the ammunitions to blunt it.

Two vital components of that ammunition are R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The duo, instrumental in India’s 16 successive series triumphs at home since the start of 2013 season, are still at the peak of their prowess despite advancing age, and taming them in these conditions has been an almost impossible exercise. Just take a look at their numbers at home — Ashwin has bagged 337 wickets in 55 Tests with 26 five-wicket and six 10-wicket hauls while Jadeja has scalped 194 wickets in 40 Tests with 10 five-wicket and two 10-wicket hauls.

When the two are in operation, either on their own or in tandem, it’s a stern examination of a batter’s skills, patience and fortitude. Ashwin is the genius, foxing the batters with his dip, turn and natural variation. Jadeja is more metronomic, landing the ball at one spot constantly and then unleashing a turner or a faster one to bamboozle the batter. Ashwin and Jadeja are not the bowlers England can afford to go slam-bang from ball one. It requires a great amount of technical acumen to counter them and how they approach them, especially if the pitches start turning, remains to be seen.

Talking about pitches, which ends up being the conversation whenever India host a Test series, the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium wicket too will assist spinners without a shadow of doubt. On the eve the match, the pitch didn’t possess much grass and according to locals with a knowledge of how it might play, spinners will be the ones to call the shots. 

Unsurprisingly, both India and England will be playing with three spinners each. Although Rohit chose not to reveal the combination, India will likely pair up Axar Patel with Jadeja and Ashwin largely because of the batting depth the Gujarat player offers. Stokes confirmed that Mark Wood will be the only pacer in the XI with Tom Hartley set to receive his debut cap on Thursday to partner Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed.  

India have all their bases covered, a strong batting line-up comprising seasoned players and a couple of future stars in the making. Their bowling is a potent force that has wrecked one and all. They sure will start favourites but England, walking the path of confidence under Ben Stokes and McCullum, will be eyeing a surprise. It’s going to be a cracker!

Teams: India (from): Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Avesh Khan.

England (playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach.