Former India cricketers Zaheer Khan and Parthiv Patel spoke about their eagerness to see whether England continues with the aggressive style of batting dubbed ‘Bazball’ in the upcoming five-Test series against India.
England will start the series in Hyderabad, with the first Test scheduled from January 25 onwards. They hope to replicate their success in 2012 when they defeated India 2-1 in the four-Test series. This was also the last time India lost a Test series at home.
Former left-arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan expressed his excitement about watching the visitors maintain their attacking style of play, known as "Bazball," in the sub-continental climate.
“You don't often see a five-Test series taking place these days. Bazball will remain in focus, and we'll see whether England's approach will remain the same. The kind of pitches that we'll be playing on will also be another point of discussion for sure. But both teams will be eager to prove their supremacy," said Zaheer to JioCinema.
Pragyan Ojha thinks the Bazball strategy is ineffective in India because it is difficult to apply against a strong Indian spin line-up. He also wanted to see if England has any backup plans if bazball fails.
"Bazball involves playing fearless cricket and England tries to gain a psychological edge using this strategy. Executing Bazball will be difficult in India because it won't be easy to play the Indian spinners or for that matter Jasprit Bumrah and the other pace bowlers," he said.
"I feel England will be very confident with the strategy they have adopted. But they need a backup plan. Because the conditions won't be like what they were in Pakistan. The wickets were slightly better and favored the batsmen. Here, the conditions will favor the spinners. So how they tackle this will be very important. Their performance in the first Test will set the tone of the series,” Ojha added.
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On the other hand, Parthiv Patel said that India should aim for a clean sweep because of playing in spin-friendly conditions at home.
"I think the Indian team will aim for 5-0. I think they need a 4-0 win to get to the top of the WTC standings. Looking at the last cycle, India won a lot of overseas Tests. I don't think India needs to change their approach. It's the visiting teams that have to come up with different strategies. It remains to be seen whether Bazball will work here or not. If the ball spins, I don't think it will work here because there's too much quality in India's spin attack that includes Ashwin, Jadeja, Akshar, and Kuldeep,” he added.
Patel also feels toss and first-innings runs will play a crucial role in the series.
"I think every venue will have its own character. We may see similar tracks in Hyderabad and Vizag. In Rajkot, if they prepare a good wicket, we may see a lot of runs being scored. Their fast bowlers can hope to get some help in Dharamsala. At every venue, how many runs they get in the first innings, will be crucial. Winning the toss too will be crucial for them. If they lose the toss, it will be tough for them to come back," he concluded
After the Hyderabad Test, India and England will clash in Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), Rajkot (February 15-19), Ranchi (February 23-27) and Dharamsala (March 7-11) in the remaining Tests.
(IANS/JioCinema inputs)
