Cricket News: Bazball trolled as England cop huge defeat by 434 runs against India at Rajkot
England’s tour of India, which began so promisingly after an Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley-inspired victory at Hyderabad, has gone pearshaped. Two Tests later, England copped one of their biggest-ever defeats in Tests, losing by 434 runs at Rajkot to go 2-1 down in the series.
Bazball has come under fire for a couple of key reasons. The first was Joe Root’s shot with England right in the contest early on day three. The second was on the back of Ben Duckett’s comments after Yashasvi Jaiswal played yet another blinder in this series. Both instances screamed of a side so in love with their style of play that reading the room is not always on the agenda.
Joe Root has ammassed over 11,000 Test runs due to his abundant skill and talent. Bazball has certainly seen some good from Root, but also the ugly, none more so than in this series. Their premier batsman has not made a mark, often the own architect of his dismissals rather than the bowler doing anything special.
After his ugly swipe in the second innings at Visakhapatnam, Root then reverse swept a Jasprit Bumrah delivery to second slip that he has caressed through the covers countless times throughout his superb career.
Yes, backing yourself is key. But, playing the situation is also vital to succeeding in big Test matches. Bumrah is one of India’s key bowlers, and even more so when R Ashwin wasn’t available. A huge opportunity was wasted.
The dismissal changed the game, with England collapsing from 224/2 to 319 to hand the advantage to India. Then, Jaiswal further drove home that advantage, which to which Ben Duckett claimed that England should take some credit for opponents playing in an aggressive style.
“When you see players from the opposition playing like that, it almost feels like we should take some credit that they’re playing differently than how other people play Test cricket,” Duckett said. “We saw it a bit in the summer and it’s quite exciting to see other players and other teams are also playing that aggressive style of cricket.”
Bazball trolled as England cop heavy defeat at Rajkot
The reactions came in thick and fast after the events of the past two days. England were right in the match, but were completely dominated from thereon as they suffered their second-largest defeat by runs in Test history.
England will need to bounce back quickly. The fourth Test begins at Ranchi on the 23rd of February, which is now a must-win match for England if they wish to regain The Pataudi Trophy.
