The former England pacer opened up on how the Three Lions can tailor their attack to benefit their cause.
The ongoing IND vs ENG Test series is shaping up towards an exciting finish with the series score narrowly tipped in favour of India at 2-1 and two more matches still left. The Three Lions, with their new-age ‘Bazball’ tactic, made a strong start after securing a win in the series opener in Hyderabad.
However, Rohit Sharma and Co showed strong character to turn around their fortunes by winning the next two fixtures in Vizag and Rajkot to establish a lead.
The Indian media was also quick to label India’s own counter to ‘Bazball’ which has been popularly termed as ‘Jasball’ after young India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who single-handedly dominated the English bowlers with his attacking batting style.
However, speaking about the ‘Bazball’ philosophy, former England pacer Ryan Sidebottom opened up on how England can tailor their attack to benefit their cause.
In an exclusive chat with Cricxtasy, the former England international said, “I don’t like the word Bazball. What I feel now is that England is going out there and playing with freedom and just backing their players to the heel and being ultra-positive. I think what comes with that though is you need to find the balance in Test cricket.
“You can’t just go Bazball all the time because then you’ll get found out. We saw the case within the last Test match (Rajkot Test) where England thought we’ll chase anything. That’s great but I think you need to have different gaze in Test cricket and need to find the balance between – being attacking, being defensive, playing a situation and playing the pitch.”
Apart from his views on ‘Bazball’, Sidebottom laid strong emphasis on results and the importance of churning out wins.
“So, yes, it’s wonderful that veryone is talking about Bazball but we are in the results business and England haven’t really performed in terms of results of late. They didn’t win the Ashes, the New Zealand Test series had lots of ups and down and now we find ourselves 2-1 down in this series. So, yes, Bazball has been great but we need to win,” Sidebottom added.
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