Michael Vaughan is 100 per cent sure that the Indian cricket team took a leaf out from England’s book named ‘Bazball’ and employed it to extract an incredible performance in the Kanpur Test against Bangladesh which at one stage appeared set for a drab draw. India batted an exact 52 overs during the rain-truncated contest and won the match comfortably by seven wickets to complete a 2-0 series clean sweep.
Michael Vaughan faced backlash on social media recently for claiming India are following into England’s footsteps by adopting aggressive approach with the bat. Despite facing criticism, Micheal Vaughan hasn’t shied away from making further similar remarks, continuing to claim that England revolutionized the way Test cricket is played with Bazball.
India’s ultra -aggressive approach gives them series win in 2 days
Fans witnessed thrilling action on Day 4 of the second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur. After bowling out Bangladesh for 233, India responded with a dominant batting display, posting 285/9 in just 34.2 overs. Half-centuries from Yashaswi Jaiswal and KL Rahul set the tone, with Jaiswal smashing a quickfire 72 off 51 balls, laced with 12 boundaries and two sixes. Rahul followed suit, hammering 68 off 43 deliveries, decorated with seven fours and two sixes.
Their attacking approach to push for a result on the fourth day was widely accepted as they blazed away to 285/9d in just 34.4 overs after limiting Bangladesh to 233-all out in the first innings. Micheal Vaughan thinks that this is exactly what England have been doing regularly since Ben Stokes took over as the Test captain and Brendon McCullum was named as head coach.
Micheal Vaughan’s insinuation that India was copying England’s template immediately sparked social media backlash. Many Indian fans were quick to criticize the former England captain, accusing him of diminishing India’s ability to play aggressive cricket before the rise of Bazball. India have a long history of playing aggressive cricket in the longest format, with several memorable counter-attacking innings even before Bazball became a buzzword in the sport.
Despite facing criticism, Micheal Vaughan hasn’t shied away from making further similar remarks, continuing to claim that England revolutionized the way Test cricket is played with Bazball. During an appearance on the Club Prairie Fire podcast alongside former England wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist, Vaughan claimed India have “become Bazballers.”
Michael Vaughan makes fun of India for copying England’s style in 2nd Bangladesh Test 2024
Former English captain Michael Vaughan accused India of copying the Bazball style of batting made famous by England in Tests over the last two years. Since Brendon McCullum took over as head coach and Ben Stokes became Test captain, England have adopted an all-out attacking batting style in red-ball cricket to achieve tremendous success.
Meanwhile, the second India-Bangladesh Test saw rain play spoilsport in the first three days with only 35 overs of action possible. However, the hosts forced a result in their favor by taking the aggressive route with the bat in the middle of Day 4, scoring 285/9 declared in under 35 overs in their first innings. Micheal Vaughan took to his social media immediately and highlighted how India were playing like Bazball, leading to backlash from the Indian fans.
Yet, two days later on the Club Prairie Fire podcast with former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, Michael Vaughan doubled down on his take.
After Gilchrist mentioned how India’s style was being called as Gamball with reference to their new head coach Gautam Gambhir, Michael Vaughan said :
“Gamball looks very similar to Bazball to me. I did notice that yesterday (Day 4 of India-Bangladesh Test) when it was happening. This is good to watch. So I tweeted ‘I see England are playing Bazball.’ It had 1.2 million views and had 2000 responses. Can you look at any legalities of this. Do England charge them for this?”
He added:
“I’ve to say, this is a remarkable Test match. India went out to bat and look Indian cricket is fantastic with everything they deliver. It is great to see India now becoming Bazballers. They got 285 in 34.4 overs, so they copied England. It’s off the scale to think that India are now copying England, that is terrific.”
During their first innings batting display, India became the fastest to team scores of 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 in Test history. Their run-rate of 7.36 across the two innings was also the highest ever by a side in a Test match.
Rohit Sharma’s men chased down their target of 95 in a mere 17.2 overs with seven wickets in hand to complete a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh.
Rohit Sharma on India’s aggressive batting in 2nd Bangladesh Test
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma said after the second Bangladesh Test that the side were prepared to be bowled out for 100 to take the game forward and force a result.
Day 4 started with Bangladesh on 107/3 in their first innings and ended with them at 26/2 in the second innings as India bulldozed the visitors with their brave batting and incisive bowling.
At the post-match presentation, Rohit said:
“To be honest, we had to think a lot to keep the game moving forward. When we came on day four, we wanted to get them [Bangladesh] out as early as possible and see what we can do with the bat. It was not about the runs we got but the overs we wanted to bowl at them. The batters were willing to take the risk and we were ready to give ourselves a chance at a result.”
It was India’s 18th consecutive Test series win at home with the streak extending to over a decade since their last defeat to England in 2012.