Before the third Test, England’s Michael Vaughan urges struggling captain Joe Root to “forget” Bazball and brings up the “Ashes”
Michael Vaughan voiced his worries about Joe Root’s lack of impact in the series’ opening two Test matches in India.
During the Test series in India, former England captain Michael Vaughan has counseled Joe Root to revert to his natural style of play and resist being influenced by the “Bazball” strategy. In the second Test in Visakhapatnam, Jasprit Bumrah’s incredible nine-wicket haul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s amazing century helped the hosts tie the five-match series 1-1.
Ben Stokes, the captain, and coach Brendon McCullum have guided England to a great degree of success with their high-tempo batting strategy, which they have stuck to.
An extraordinary quantity of reverse sweeps have been employed by the English side in an effort to adjust to the spin-friendly conditions in India.
But Root, who had scores of 29, 2, 5, and 16 in the first two Tests, has had trouble finding his form. Not one but several English cricket luminaries, including Mike Atherton, was disappointed by his unconventional dismissal in the second innings in Vizag.
From ball one, Vaughan wrote in the UK Telegraph, “They are in fifth gear.”
Some of them are better players, therefore I don’t mind that they play that way. But Joe Root ought to set it aside. With ten thousand Test runs, he can play like Joe Root. There’s no need for him to be a Bazballer.
It’s time for a management figure to wrap an arm around Joe and ask him to just be himself. I believe the basic reason is that he is very engrossed in the excitement and fun of Bazball.”
Vaughan went on to refer to Root as the “greatest spinner” in English history, along with Graham Gooch, and expressed frustration over the right-hand batsman “gifting” his wicket in the second Test.
This is especially crucial when dealing with spin. Root is the greatest spin player England has ever produced, along with Graham Gooch. The way he batted in the second innings, Vaughan said, “that’s not Root, and that’s not how England are going to win in India, just giving wickets away.”
Although Stokes and McCullum have an outstanding winning record together, Vaughan is worried that the Bazball approach may result in opportunities lost—he brings to last year’s draw Ashes series as an example.
“I am concerned that they could develop into a squad that performs admirably but doesn’t really win much. They let India back into a series even though they still have a ton of big names, like Virat Kohli, to return, and they failed to win the Ashes when they should have.
England has performed admirably thus far on this tour, and I firmly think they can prevail. However, in order to achieve that, they must quickly improve their batting,” said the former England captain.
