Bazball is the one word that trended a lot during the entire course of the fifth match of the ICC World Test Championship series between the Indian cricket team and the England cricket team. It is a new strategy introduced by the Test coach of the England cricket team, Brendon McCullum.
Under this new approach, the England cricket team plays fearless cricket. They play attacking strokes and score runs at a run rate which is faster than the average run rate in all Test matches. Basically, they treat it as an ODI game and go all out on the opposition instead of playing defensively.
Bazball has worked wonders for the England cricket team this summer. They beat the New Zealand cricket team by 3-0 in an ICC World Test Championship series and then pulled off their highest successful run-chase in Test cricket history by scoring 378 runs in the fourth innings against the Indian cricket team.
England cricket team skipper Ben Stokes had said at the toss of the match against the Indian cricket team that his side loves chasing. After the England cricket team chased down 378 runs, Stokes said at the post-match presentation that he was excited to see how his team would perform if they were chasing 450 runs in the fourth innings.
Is Bazball killing the beauty of Test cricket?
Fans love to see attacking cricket from batters, but at the same time, Test cricket is the only format of the game right now, where bowlers have a say. A Twitter user recently shared his views on Bazball and wrote:
“I am worried about #BazBall. Test cricket is the only format which offered bowlers some say. If teams start making flat pitches that offers plenty of runs even on days 4 and 5 & balls with no seam movement; Test cricket will die out. Like how 300-320 pitches killed ODI cricket.”
I am worried about #BazBall.
— Cricketjeevi (@wildcardgyan) July 5, 2022
Test cricket is the only format which offered bowlers some say. If teams start making flat pitches that offers plenty of runs even on days 4 and 5 & balls with no seam movement; Test cricket will die out.
Like how 300-320 pitches killed ODI cricket!
