England have lost the five-match Test series in India with a game to spare and their Bazball philosophy hasn’t quite worked the way they wanted it to. Having tasted success with their aggressive approach with the bat and the ball in Tests, the Ben Stokes-led side did start well by winning the series opener but then India bounced back to take a 3-1 lead.
England have though, in phases, succeeded with their aggressive approach on the ongoing tour but their batters have largely been criticised for not adapting to the situation.
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Joe Root faced a lot of heat for his reverse scoop against Jasprit Bumrah in the third Test that resulted in a catch in the slip cordon and triggered an England collapse from which they didn’t recover and ultimately lost the contest by a record margin.
Root, widely regarded as a modern great, has also bought into England’s new style and enjoyed some success too. However, it’s the traditional approach through which he has scored most of his 11,626 runs in Test cricket.
He returned to the tried and tested methodology to peel off his first century of the tour, hitting an unbeaten 122 to help England recover from 112/5 to 353-all out in the first innings of Ranchi Test.
Fast bowling great Mitchell Johnson drew parallels between the manner in which Root bats and Australia duo of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
“Joe Root has been the talk of the cricket world with what would seem a reckless shot choice. His captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have defended it – as you would expect. McCullum also defended the way Root has been going about it in this new regime,” Johnson wrote in his column for Nightly.
“Root is their Smith or Marnus Labuschagne. He is a more correct player. Someone who needs to get himself in, watch the ball and leave it when required,” he added.
Johnson though claimed that what England are doing isn’t something unique and it’s something he has been part of the Australian cricket system.
“I said this during the Ashes series: It’s not a new thing to be aggressive as a batting unit. If England find the right balance of when to be aggressive and take on an attack and when to defend, they will be in a better place. Again, it’s what I saw playing at first-class level and what I saw watching the Aussies in the 1990s and 2000s,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson then advised Root to shun Bazball since there are plenty of attacking options with the bat for England.
“Joe Root has been one of the best for a very long time. I’m not sure he needs to play Bazball, especially when they have plenty of out-and-out attacking players in the team,” he wrote.
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