Bazball or not, England not up to scratch

It is fine in theory, but much harder to put into practice. England has thrown away flying starts in the series, had no reply to Ravindra Jadeja’s spin, and looked listless with the ball. England’s extreme pace has been hit back by Indian batters while Shreyas Iyer has come prepared with answers to the short ball. Except for Adil Rashid’s spin, the visitors haven’t challenged India.

England appear to have lost the winning habit in their overdrive to entertain. After their disastrous 2023 ODI World Cup campaign, they have lost home and away to West Indies and Australia, and have already ceded the trophy to India before Wednesday’s final ODI in Ahmedabad.

This is a team which is a far cry from Eoin Morgan’s England. While Morgan got his team to push the limits of run-scoring, his team was equally adept at winning low-scoring matches – the 2019 World Cup final was tied at 241 runs before the Super Over.

Duckett said the team has head coach Brendon McCullum’s backing. “Baz will never have a go at me for trying to hit a left-arm spinner for six over midwicket with a shot I play time and time again,” he said, justifying his shot dragging from wide of off to long on to be dismissed in Ravindra Jadeja’s first over in Cuttack. “As long as we are sticking to the options we practice, sticking to our strengths, there will be no complaints inside that dressing room.”

Again, back your strengths is sound advice. But can the entire team play no-holds-barred offense and err on the side of aggression all the time, in a format where different phases can be won differently based on conditions and quality of opposition?

Perhaps, that’s what Bazball is all about, although the thrill around the term coined in 2021 has fizzled. There was some talk about adopting a toned-down approach after the Test series loss to India last year. Since joining England’s white-ball set-up, McCullum has only demanded a high tempo.

England captain Jos Buttler saw a reflection of their methods in Rohit Sharma’s Cuttack hundred. “Rohit really showed, in this day and age, in the modern sort of way of playing 50-over cricket, it’s very dynamic, very aggressive. He scored at a rate that just confirms really that the way we want to play is the right way, that you have to play to try and win games in cricket,” he said.

Buttler overlooked that India’s batting make-up is different. Rohit was the only one taking high risks in the powerplay with Shubman Gill willing to play second fiddle. Virat Kohli was happy building the tempo of his innings. KL Rahul bats the situation. That’s not the England way. And it’s not working.

Only Duckett and Joe Root average more than 40 in the England ODI squad. A revealing statistic and a fair reflection of the English set-up believing very little in batting averages and leaning heavily on strike rates. There is ample evidence that evenly matched sides with quality bowling line-ups seldom allow an ODI contest to be reduced to a T20 run sparring bout.

“If we lose 3-0 to India, I don’t care as long as we beat them in the final in the Champions Trophy,” Duckett said. Not many are backing England to qualify for the final based on their current methods.