Australia came down heavily upon the English in the first match of Ashes and the world went berserk, ridiculing the entire concept of Bazball. The idea was simple from all the fans and the experts who believed that it is just another concept that is being thrown about in the face of pressure that the English are unable to handle.
Well, what is Bazball? As per Brendon McCullum, it is just the aggressive mindset of the English players that get them in the right headspace to challenge an opposition. But wasn’t that always the norm? Or was it that players came with a negative mindset to the games? Here are three reasons why Bazball is overrated.
#1 Same wine, new bottle
Mindset and hunger are always a de rigeur for any format of the sport and it is nothing different that a winning team does though when they take the yard. But then again not every winning team finds a way to define that with a particular word. I mean what kind of oddity would that be? Have you ever heard a Ponting ball or a Kirsten ball or whatever balls that the world now wants to define? Funny, it’s turning funny.
#2 Aggression can also be called aggression
This is not the first time that a Test team has been aggressive whenever they have come out to bat. If you remember the likes of Clive Lloyd, Sir Gary Sobers, Virender Sehwag, Sanath Jayasuriya, they all played aggressive cricket. Yet, none of them thought about calling it Viru ball or Sanath ball. Funny how people somehow believes that what is a basic necessity can be reshaped and moulded into something extravagant, just because someone believes that denomination is all that matters.
#3 The societal pressure of Bazball is immense
England somehow declared for 393 and didn’t even bother to try and push towards the 450 mark which could have actually been a match-winning score. It was just to show the confidence that they have in Bazball which is actually nothing but succumbing to societal pressure that when translated in Indian language comes to “log kya kahenge”?
