NEW DELHI: The five-Test series between India and England begins in Hyderabad on January 25. Former left-arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan expressed his excitement about watching the visitors maintain their attacking style of play, known as “Bazball,” in the sub-continental climate.
India have emerged victorious in 16 consecutive Test series at home ever since they lost 1-2 to England in 2012.”You don’t often see a five-Test series taking place these days. Bazball will remain in focus, and we’ll see whether England’s approach will remain the same. The kind of pitches that we’ll be playing on will also be another point of discussion for sure. But both teams will be eager to prove their supremacy,” said Zaheer to JioCinema.
Former left-arm spinner for India, Pragyan Ojha, thinks the Bazball strategy is ineffective in India because it is difficult to apply against a strong Indian spin line-up. “Bazball involves playing fearless cricket and England tries to gain a psychological edge using this strategy. Executing Bazball will be difficult in India because it won’t be easy to play the Indian spinners or for that matter Jasprit Bumrah and the other pace bowlers,” he said.

Ojha wants to see if the Ben Stokes-led team have backup plans available in case the Bazball method backfires, even after England defeated Pakistan 3-0 in their backyard in 2022. “I feel England will be very confident with the strategy they have adopted. But they need a back-up plan. Because the conditions won’t be like what they were in Pakistan.”
“The wickets were slightly better and favoured the batsmen. Here, the conditions will favour the spinners. So how they tackle this will be very important. Their performance in the first Test will set the tone of the series.”
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel thinks that because of the spinning conditions, India will aim for a clean sweep to improve their position in the World Test Championship table, and England’s Bazball strategy will fail. “I think the Indian team will aim for 5-0. I think they need a 4-0 win to get to the top of the WTC standings. Looking at the last cycle, India won a lot of overseas Tests. I don’t think India need to change their approach.”

“It’s the visiting teams that have to come up with different strategies. It remains to be seen whether Bazball will work here or not. If the ball spins, I don’t think it will work here because there’s too much quality in India’s spin attack that includes Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep.”
The upcoming India-England Test series will begin from Hyderabad on January 25, followed by other matches at Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), Rajkot (February 15-19), Ranchi (February 23-27) and Dharamsala (March 7-11).
Patel also feels toss and first-innings runs will play a crucial role in the series. “I think every venue will have its own character. We may see similar tracks in Hyderabad and Vizag. In Rajkot, if they prepare a good wicket, we may see a lot of runs being scored.”
“Their fast bowlers can hope to get some help in Dharamsala. At every venue, how many runs they get in the first innings, will be crucial. Winning the toss too will be crucial for them. If they lose the toss, it will be very difficult for them to come back,” he concluded.
(With IANS inputs)