"Most of them are pretty one-dimensional" - Wasim Jaffer says England's Bazball approach won't work in India
Wasim Jaffer feels that England's aggressive 'Bazball' approach won't work on spin-friendly wickets in India in the 2023 World Cup because most of their batters are "pretty one-dimensional".
His comments came after Afghanistan thumped the defending champions by 69 runs on Sunday in Delhi. The Afghans put up a spirited batting performance to reach 284/10, led by Rahmanullah Gurbaz's swashbuckling 57-ball 80,
The spin troika of Mujeeb ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi then picked up eight of the 10 wickets on the slow surface to keep England down to 215. The English batters weren't too aggressive per se but couldn't rotate strike well either.
"Not everybody can play like that," Jaffer said on ESPNcricinfo. "That's why I say Dawid Malan and Joe Root play such an important role. But most of them are pretty one-dimensional. They go pretty hard but if the pitch is not to their liking, this is what can happen. And if teams are stacked up with spin... I had my doubts on how England batters [would] play against spin and that was on show today. They need to think really hard about how they want to play spin in India and improve quickly."
This was Afghanistan's only second win in World Cup history and first-ever international triumph over England.
"Somewhere, you need to take your gear down" - Wasim Jaffer on England
Jaffer also said 'Bazball' is more suited to the flat wickets in England than the spin-friendly ones in India.
"The wickets that they play in England are totally different and it does help you to play in the Bazball manner. It's really, really flat. But when you come to India and get a pitch like that where it spins a little bit, where it holds in the surface, you can't play like that and you definitely can't play like that for 50 overs. So, somewhere, you need to take your gear down, you need to consolidate. That's something they need to do if they want to go further in the tournament, you know," he added.
England will now play against South Africa on October 21 while Afghanistan will next take on New Zealand on October 18.