Chappell urges Root to play his natural game and drop Bazball philosophy

England’s Joe Root in action during the third day of the third Test match between India and England at Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, Gujarat on February 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has urged out-of-form England batter Joe Root to shun the ‘Bazball’ approach and get back to playing his natural game.

Senior batter Root has struggled for runs in the ongoing five-match series against India, registering a set of low scores across six innings.

Keeping up with England’s aggressive Bazball approach, Root has mostly lost his wicket playing outlandish shots in India.

“Root had a bloody fine record playing normally, and he was a quick scorer playing normally,” Chappell told ‘Wide World of Sports’, describing Bazball as “bullshit”.

“I don’t see why he’s trying to change things drastically, and I’ve never believed you should play premeditated shots,” Chappell added.

Root, who has over 11,000 Tests runs, copped up a lot of criticism for his dismissal in England’s first innings in the third Test, as he attempted to reverse sweep Jasprit Bumrah but only ended up edging to slip.

His dismissal led to a batting collapse. England were 224/2 when Root got out. The tourists then lost eight wickets for 95 runs to be bowled out for 319, handing India a 126-run first-innings lead.

England eventually lost the Test by a mammoth 434 runs, their largest defeat in terms of runs since 1934.

Chapell argued that while a top-order batter must look to score aggressively, the players must adjust according to the match situation.

“You can’t always do it — it’s got to be according to the conditions and also who’s bowling,” he said.

Bumrah has dismissed Root on nine occasions in Test cricket now.

“Some bowlers you can score off a lot quicker than others, but when a really good bowler is bowling a good spell, you’ve got to be prepared to try and battle it out and think to yourself ‘Well, when he goes off, it’ll get a bit easier’.

“You’re always trying to score runs — that’s got to be your prime aim. But, you’ve also got to realise in some conditions, against some bowlers you can score quicker than others.”