What is Bazball and should India be scared of it?

Bazball. Bazball. Bazball. It is always only about Bazball. Irritating frankly. For the amount of hype that it gets, Bazball has not really won England the world title in two separate World Test Championship cycles.As India get ready to play England in a 5-match Test series, it is once again about Bazball. To be fair, the hype had been a little less this time, but it was Joe Root, who once again triggered the term, stating that Bazball never quite got the credit for the tactical nuance that it carried with it.advertisement"It might not always get reported how it is—I don't think 'Bazball' is the right way to describe it. It has been a big change and is different to how a lot of teams play, but there is a lot more method to it than is probably perceived," the former England captain said a day before the start of the opening Test match in Headingly.
That then, obviously demands the question, what really is Bazball?The funniest thing perhaps is that Bazball, the highly aggressive form of cricket, with both bat and ball, which promised to make Test cricket more interesting, is a term hated by its makers.On multiple occasions, England Test cricketers have come out and gone on record that Baz (Brendon McCullum) believes that Bazball is a term given by the media to hype up England's approach to Test cricket.advertisementEngland captain Ben Stokes in early 2024 said that England cricketers actively tried to stay out of it.'It's a phrase that was created by the media. Something that we try and stay away from. It just came from what we have managed to do over the last two years and how we've played. We don't necessarily like it, Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) hates it! Whenever that word pops up, we just try to say that's how England plays Test cricket,' Stokes told the media going into England's Test tour of India in 2024.But is that not what England set out to do? Bring back crowd with a high-risk brand of cricket?What Goes Into Bazball?Under the tutelage of Brendon McCullum, the England cricket team have tried to play a very non-traditional form of Test cricket. Ultra-aggressive with the bat, the team has declared their innings on Day 1 on occasions. This has led to Test matches being fast moving.Especially on flat tracks, teams that have not been able to match the tempo, have been routed. Ask Pakistan in 2022, who were blown out of the water in their own home (0-3) by this English team. On pitches where other teams had to toil, score 500 runs over 2 days, and then wait patiently for the other team to collapse, England simply said 'No, too much work. I rather blast 500 in 3 sessions and freak the opposition out till they hand me the match themselves'.advertisementThe tactic has worked on several occasions, and failed miserably in others.It goes without saying that McCullum has been able to identify a crop of players who are suited to his style of playing. One of the key differentiators among the current crop of England batters against the rest of the world is how many balls do they leave (shoulder arms) at the start of their innings.
A look at just one of England's matches and things become clear that unlike the majority of the world, the England openers like to dominate their opponents from the very start of the match. Someone like Ben Duckett wants to get the feel of the ball early in the innings. Zak Crawley wants to get into his long stride and drive the ball through the covers.advertisementSince the summer of 2019, till Brendon McCullum took over the team, England's batting was in tatters. Joe Root, their lead scorer in that period grafted the innings. If he was able to score big runs, it gave the England side enough cushion to bowl oppositions out, something that they did in Sri Lanka.Top England batters between 2019 to May 2022Joe RootRuns: 1243Strike Rate: 51.42Rory BurnsRuns: 1077Strike Rate: 41.74Ben StokesRuns: 813Strike Rate: 56.77Jos ButtlerRuns: 735Strike Rate: 47.88Dom SibleyRuns: 484Strike Rate: 32.18Since Brendon McCullum took over the side, the make-up of that top 5 batters list looks very different. Joe Root still leads the scoring charts, and at a much faster rate. Root has been so prolific in the Brendon McCullum era that the expectation is that he would cross everyone and become the second-highest scorer in Test cricket history by the end of this series alone.He is 370-odd runs away from overtaking Ricky Ponting - and England fans are positive that he will be able to score those runs in the 5 matches against India.advertisementBar Root, the other batters have also scored runs at a rapid rate. Openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley have been prolific, and so has been vice-captain Ollie Pope. The only issue that Pope perhaps suffers is the jitteriness at the start of the innings. If he is able to get past the 20-run mark after the first one hour of batting, Pope usually looks like a sensational No.3 batter in the world.Top England Test Batters in the Bazball Era (2022–2025)Joe RootRuns: 1783Strike Rate: 70.81Ollie PopeRuns: 1352Strike Rate: 76.16Zak CrawleyRuns: 1045Strike Rate: 77.29Ben DuckettRuns: 1007Strike Rate: 88.87Jonny BairstowRuns: 1003Strike Rate: 89.31According to the data crunched by Cricbuzz, England batters have been playing good length balls better in home conditions than any team in the world.Let me explain. Since 2022, England's batters have averaged 30.73 against good-length balls in home Tests. To put things in perspective, visiting batters in England during this period have averaged a mere 13.39 off good-length deliveries.This has directly affected England's batting stocks (home conditions), shooting their average at home to an incredible 43.86, the second best among all countries in the world. England have bullied teams with the bat at home, which nearly helped them take back the Ashes in 2023 from the then World Test Champions Australia, who had annihilated India in the final of the competition.advertisementTest Batting Averages by Host Country (Since 2022)Sri LankaAvg (Since 2022): 44.39Avg (2018–21): 35.51EnglandAvg (Since 2022): 43.86Avg (2018–21): 32.25AustraliaAvg (Since 2022): 40.25Avg (2018–21): 44.01New ZealandAvg (Since 2022): 38.91Avg (2018–21): 55.28PakistanAvg (Since 2022): 37.87Avg (2018–21): 45.00IndiaAvg (Since 2022): 37.45Avg (2018–21): 50.52South AfricaAvg (Since 2022): 35.74Avg (2018–21): 32.98BangladeshAvg (Since 2022): 31.42Avg (2018–21): 32.89West IndiesAvg (Since 2022): 29.22Avg (2018–21): 25.68This incredible rebirth of England's batting perhaps needs a little more context.In May 2022, just before Brendon McCullum took over, England were 6th in the ICC table with just 88 points to their name - far away from their arch-rivals Australia, who had a rating of 128 at the time.England were so bad, that this was their lowest ranking in the Test fray since 1995. Wherever they travelled to, they failed to put up a fight. Between the summers of 2020-2022, England played 26 Test matches, winning just 7 and losing 12. Despite a series win in Sri Lanka, that period of England was marked with massive uncertainty amongst the players and fans.ENG vs IND, 1st Test: Preview"I would change Covid. The fact we played as many games as we did in those environments, I don't think, was fair on the group. We were playing to keep the lights on and win games of cricket," Root had told Sky Sports in an interview reflecting on that period.The pinnacle of the uncertainty reached in Ashes 2020/21, when Pat Cummins' Australia ripped apart the English side, a series that eventually led to Joe Root being dropped as the England captain.And it is in this context that we have to look at Bazball.The Birth of BazballAfter their losses in Australia and West Indies, England needed something drastic. Former England captain Rob Key took over the reins at the ECB (English and Wales Cricket Board) and decided to appoint Brendon McCullum as the head coach of the England Test team.At this time, McCullum was coaching Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, and had no credentials of coaching any international side at all.McCullum came in with a simple idea. Attack with the bat, attack with the ball, make Test cricket entertaining again.He brought in assurances that players would be backed despite their failures, as long as they were on board with the brand of cricket he wanted to play.And from there on, magic happened.England won against New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and even a home Test against India.It was the Test match against India where the entertainment turned into folklore.Chasing 378, completely out of the game for the first two days of the (rescheduled) Test match, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root turned up the heat.The theatrics of that game was incredible. A fired-up Virat Kohli sledged Bairstow relentlessly on Day 3, at a time when he could not get bat to ball. That sledging had the opposite effect to what the Indian side would have hoped for, as Bairstow started going hammer and tongs against Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur.Ben Stokes on...Facing IndiaSelection dilemmasVirat Kohli, Ashwin & SharmaAnd a team movie-night revelation...Watch our full interview with Ben Stokes ahead of tomorrow's first Test now— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 19, 2025Bar Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up 2 wickets in the final innings, none of the India bowlers could take a single wicket. Bairstow and Root scored hundreds, chasing down an unlikely target at Birmingham, 2022.And with that Test match, Bazball was truly born.From there on, it was Bazball, Bazball, Bazball. Irritating frankly, but there was no denying that, the method worked. More importantly, it was an entertaining watch, and there was no point complaining about the fallacies of the ultra-aggressive approach and if it would have been successful in tough overseas conditions.The Contrasts of BazballFor all the folklore that Bazball has amassed, it can be argued that Bazball has its limitations.On flat tracks, which England are now dishing out at home, it is a superbly efficient way of spooking out the opposition teams. Brendon McCullum's England have been successful at home, in Pakistan (2022) and in New Zealand, which now offer the flattest pitches on earth in Test cricket.But when they have been faced with sporting pitches, wickets that have a hint of turn in them, England have collapsed. They were hammered by India in 2024, and then again lost to Pakistan in rank turners, later in the same year.It needs to be reminded that Bazballing England are yet to face South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka away from home, three teams known to be exceptionally strong in their own backyard.Their lack of wins away from home has resulted in failure to reach the World Test Championship twice in a row. Three, if you include the period with Chris Silverwood.Conversely, it is also true that England are ranked as the third-best side in the world in the Test format, a huge achievement for a side who were tottering at the bottom half of the table just before McCullum took over the side.What Lies Ahead?There is no doubt that under Brendon McCullum, England have been able to revive their culture of Test cricket. However, the time of flashes is perhaps gone and it is now time to give consistent results. McCullum is in his third year of coaching this English side, and now they simply cannot be about the vibes any more.One win here, another win there, and a multitude of near-misses will not be driving the narrative of the side, should not be driving the narrative of the side.It is time that England aim higher, a belief that they would perhaps get if they win the India Test series. You May Also Like

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