If You Respect The Pitch, It’ll Pay You Dividends: Ravichandran Ashwin Gives His Verdict on England’s ‘Bazball’

Veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out that England’s new Test cricket approach ‘Bazball’ might falter if the conditions don’t suit the batters. England have been playing dominant cricket in red-ball cricket since Brendon McCullum took over the coaching duties and Ben Stokes replaced Joe Root as Test captain. The duo has complimented each other well as the ultra-attacking approach with the bat has worked well for the English team.

Ashwin talked about the ‘Bazball’ approach in his latest YouTube video where he suggested that it will falter in certain types of wickets.

“You can’t whack as you do in a T20. Secondly, we now have a concept called Bazball. England is playing fast-paced Test match cricket,” he said on his YouTube channel.

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“They want to play a certain style of cricket. But in certain types of wickets, when you try and attack every ball, you will falter. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this approach. Sometimes, on the wicket, conditions need to be respected,” he added.

Meanwhile, things have worked quite well for England so far with their approach as they have lost just one Test since McCullum was appointed the Test team coach.

The veteran spinner said that it’s important for everyone to respect the pitch to succeed as the attacking approach might not work if the conditions favour the bowlers.

“Some will ask instead of defending and getting all out for 100, I will slog it out and get all out for 140. We will only know when the game pans out that the approach works or not. Sometimes, on the wicket, conditions need to be respected. If you respect the pitch and play accordingly, the pitch will also respect you. If you respect the pitch, it will pay you dividends,” said Ashwin.

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The 36-year-old also recalled the advice of his former coach WV Raman on respecting the conditions.

“WV Raman used to tell me, “Hello, mister. Don’t challenge the conditions. Will you go to a beach and start swimming as you do in a swimming pool? You can’t, right? Likewise, if you should respect the pitch and play accordingly, the pitch will also respect you,” he added.

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