"Bazball, whatever ball you call it, but it's not going to be easy beating India at home"- Anil Kumble on England's first series loss in 'Bazball' era
Anil Kumble has pointed to India's dominance at home to state that even England's successful Bazball method wasn't enough to overhaul the hosts.
The Bazball term was coined after Brendon McCullum took over as the Test coach in mid-2022 and transformed England's batting approach to an all-out attack. With Ben Stokes as captain, the duo have achieved remarkable results, with England winning 13 of their 18 Tests coming into the Indian tour.
However, after a stunning first Test win, the visitors have been found wanting, suffering a hattrick of defeats to concede the series with one game remaining.
Speaking to the local broadcasters after Team India's win in the fourth Test win in Ranchi, Kumble felt beating India at home was as hard as they come despite England's excellent recent form.
"See the challenge when England came here was obvious. India is not going to easy. Bazball, whatever ball you call it… but it's not going to be easy beating India at home. That is the reason why India has been so dominant over the years. Last decade, India have never lost a series at home. They knew they had to be different but their bowling attack wasn't certainly something that they believed would be able to penetrate the Indian batting," said Kumble.
Kumble also felt the lack of consistent contributions from the English middle order dampened their chances of winning the series.
"Once they got to know that some of the senior players won't be available, with an inexperienced line-up, they had a chance, but senior batters didn't contribute consistently in that middle order, including Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and even Joe Root – other than this Test match, so that's where I thought they missed a trick there," added Kumble.
While Joe Root scored a magnificent century in Ranchi, he has struggled overall, with an average of only 30 in the four Tests.
As for Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, it has been a series to forget with the bat, with dismal averages of 24.62 and 21.25, respectively.
"It's all nice to say 'ok, this is the way I bat'" - Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble pointed to Shubman Gill as an example of someone curbing the natural attacking instincts with the game situation in mind in criticizing England's one-dimensional batting approach.
Gill batted with tremendous clarity in India's tense final-innings chase of 192, scoring 52* off 124 deliveries. It helped the side to recover from a precarious 120/5 to complete a five-wicket win.
"It's all nice to say 'ok, this is the way I bat'. But you can't do that all the time. Shubman Gill would have loved to pump every ball for a six off the off-spinner, and I'm sure the thought process was there, the intent was there. But you've got to hold back. In Test match cricket, that's what it is. It's about situations and that's what Root did in Ranchi. No wonder he was successful. So it's something England will have to discuss and look at. Not just about the aggressive approach but even the defence," said Kumble.
Despite the impressive overall record, England has struggled in the recent Test series under the Bazball era, with a drawn series in New Zealand and the home Ashes that followed before the defeat in India.
England will draw the curtains on the Indian tour with the final Test at Dharamsala, starting March 7.