'Have to be smarter with our comments’ - Brendon McCullum reflects on tough India tour and redefining Bazball

The Bazball has been completely washed and thoroughly rinsed by India, as the Rohit Sharma-led side won the five-match Test series 4-1. As if the humbling in the three previous Tests was not enough, England suffered a massive defeat by an innings and 64 runs in the final Test at the picturesque Dharamsala to cap off an embarrassing tour.

In his chat with The Telegraph, England coach Brendon McCullum accepted India handled pressure well and outplayed England. He also stated that his side needs to retreat after an eye-opening series defeat against India.

“Credit to India for the way that they played. They are always under a lot of pressure as well because of the expectations on their side, and for them to be able to handle that during those moments shows how good a cricket team they are in their own conditions; they probably outplayed us at the style of cricket that we want to play and made us start to retreat a little bit so that’s something that we will have to change. We didn’t get what we came here for. We’ve learnt a lot out of this tour. India outplayed us, they outskilled us, and in the clutch moments, were just too good for us really.”

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Adding to his point, McCullum said his team has progressed well on this tour, but England will work on areas to progress once the dust settles.

“We will allow dust and hurt to settle a bit as well and then use that hurt and experience we have in the game to make changes we need to ensure we are a better version of what we have started out as. We are obviously disappointed. We came here with high hopes and felt we had really progressed as a team, and on this occasion, we’ve got to acknowledge we’ve got a bit of work to do moving forward, and I think as long as we’re prepared to put our hands up and say that we need to adjust some of those things, never throw away what we’ve done to this point because those are the convictions and methods that we’ve got, but you also need to keep improving. We will have some time to reflect and come back bigger, stronger and more refined.”

Have to be smarter with our comments: Brendon McCullum

Despite being in uncomfortable situations, the English players didn’t hesitate to make hyperbolic assertions on various media platforms throughout the series. They took pride even in defeat, like they mostly do, and shot in their foot.

Most of their comments eventually backfired when the results didn’t go in their favour, inviting more criticism to the team. McCullum admitted his troops needed to be wiser with their choice of words.

“We do have belief within our group. It has taken a bit of a hit over the last couple of weeks. We have to be smarter with those comments. It is fine to inwardly believe what you can achieve, but just be a bit smarter around how we say things sometimes. But it is people growing up in the environment, right? They are not the finished articles yet, and surely they shouldn’t be hung for making a positive comment in the media that might be construed as arrogance. It is not arrogance, just confidence in the group.”

Despite taking pride in playing aggressive cricket and scoring quickly, England’s run rate (3.84) was almost identical to India's (3.49). However, England lost a wicket every 25.63 runs apiece compared to India’s 39.74.

English players have given different definitions of Bazball, which itself depicts the uncertainty around the term. Whatever label they use to define their cricket, England clearly need to get better and start winning more matches against competitive sides before making such aggressive comments.

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