Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra noted that England batters decided to put the Bazball approach on the backburner on the opening day of the third Test match against India at Lord’s. England ended the opening day at 251-4 in 83 overs after Ben Stokes decided to bat first.
After losing two quick wickets of their openers – Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley – the home team adopted a sedate approach with the bat.
England vice-captain Ollie Pope scored 44 runs off 104 balls whereas skipper Ben Stokes remained unbeaten on 39 off 102 balls at the close of play. None of the England batters scored their runs at a strike rate of more than 60.
“Where is the Bazball, sir? There used to be a thing called Bazball, where is it nowadays? It’s being said that it’s lost somewhere in St John’s Wood, because you played the entire day and scored only 250 runs,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
England’s veteran batter Joe Root reached his half-century in 102 balls, which is his slowest in the Bazball era.
“This was Joe Root’s slowest half-century in the Bazball era. Ever since the era started, he had started hitting, and many times we asked the question why he was in such a hurry. Let others play as they want, but Joe Root is like the root of a tree. So, he too realized that he hadn’t scored runs in the first two matches and that he would bat respectfully now,” he observed.
Chopra said English batters are open to the idea of playing according to the match situation and the pitch and they don’t want to always go bonkers.
“Bazball was totally discarded, no matter who the batter was, from No. 1 to Ben Stokes. Now all of them have started saying that they are not mad, that they say they want to win, but can also play for a draw, that’s also an option. They know they have to play fast, but they have the option to play slow too,” he said.
The renowned commentator highlighted that it is rare for a team to score runs at a run rate of 3.02.
“Sometimes, when you don’t have a good second option, or you aren’t playing that well, then you look for those routes, and that’s exactly what has happened. Only 250 runs being scored on the first day, it’s a rarity in today’s day and age. No team plays so slow, and people who talk about Bazball don’t play like that at all. However, this time you saw that they were very, very slow,” Chopra observed.
Joe Root is batting unbeaten on 99, and he is going to hold the key for England on the second day.
