Players know this better than anyone else: Cricket is a game of failures. Even the legendary Don Bradman, who averaged 99.94 in a career spanning 52 Tests and 80 innings, scored just 42 scores over 50. This means he ‘failed’ about half the time.
Still, how you fail is important. Often you fail the same way you succeed, and while England have been given a lot of credit for their ‘bazzball’ style, the fact is that India, especially on the fourth day of the Edgbaston Test, have been on their own. The patent went away. , the old and successful ‘shazzball’ cricket.
The first is the recreational style under new England coach Brendon McCullum (nicknamed ‘Baz’), and the second is the style developed by former coach Ravi Shastri. Partly it involves ruthlessly suppressing profits.
flat and empty
On the fourth day, India looked flat, spotless and bowled wickets when runs and batting time were both important. 190 for four, he lost six for 55 to bring England back into the game; An England captain who chose to bowl first as they could chase anything in the fourth innings.
England were fantastic. Joe Root’s century should be one of the best, full of grace and power and mischief. And when Jonny Bairstow was in such great form, he deserved to win. Bumrah may have been pleased to say that it was a tough series and a 2-2 result was the best.
Yet one can’t shake the feeling that India withdrew from shazzball, and the captain, who took the lead for the first time, was placed in a difficult position. Virat Kohli’s years of aggression and command are gone – though the then captain often went over the top – and the team has more questions than answers.
To their credit, India, leading 2-1 in the series, did not pack up their batting at Edgbaston hoping only to draw. Most Indian teams in the past would have done this on the bird-in-hand theory. India won the series 3-1, arguing that if it didn’t finish, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
To this is the nature of bazzball or shazzball cricket – aggression in itself is not a guarantee of success, sometimes you lose looking to win. Sometimes an element of uncertainty enters the picture. And you’re not sure whether to keep attacking or retreat and let the other team run.
front left handed player
When India were in the dumps in the first innings, two left-handers Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja swung into action with the former playing such shots, which give respect to the T20 approach. But it wasn’t just hitting and hoping. Pant’s defense is good; He also has a wonderful eye and strong arms that don’t worry about fielders on the fence because he knows he can clear them.
At this stage, England seemed devoid of ideas, their captains confused and their fielding baffling the problem. When England were chasing and Yorkshire’s Joe Root and Bairstow were on top, it was India who looked in and out of it.
Clearly no team has mastered this Bazball/Shazball business. Under pressure, both teams stumbled into unfamiliar territory. In the case of India, there was more than one captain on the field, not even in England!
In their second innings, India missed an opportunity to take the game ahead of England. They lost the plot and suddenly looked like a team that didn’t have enough batsmen and at least one bowler was playing less. On the fifth morning, the doping shoulder syndrome, which was so familiar in the past, reappeared in India. Although Root and Bairstow batted well, they had some poor bowling and were up against a team that had given up.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, the batting struggled. Talented Shubman Gill can expect to talk to his coach like Shreyas Iyer. Hanuma Vihari may have played his last Test; He looked out of place at number 3.
elephant in the room
And India will have to deal with the elephant in the room – Virat Kohli. His next Test is in December, but will Kohli do what Cheteshwar Pujara did and play enough first-class cricket to rediscover his touch and form in the meantime?
A defeat leaves a team with questions like this that lurk in the excitement of victory. And that’s not a bad thing.
Both Bazball and Shazball come with a caveat: Be prepared for the occasional failure. Nothing symbolizes this better than Rishabh Pant’s batting. He can win the game with his bat – or flop spectacularly. The trick, as playwright Samuel Beckett put it, is to “fail better” when you fail again.