India vs England 2024

Brendon McCullum firmly stands behind ‘Bazball’ approach despite scathing criticism after record loss

Cricket fans all around the world were waiting eagerly for the India vs England series to see how effective ‘Bazball’ would be against the Indian team who are a force to reckon with in their backyard. England started strong, winning the first Test despite falling behind. It seemed “Bazball” might pull off the impossible, but things went downhill fast for England.

Despite facing a less experienced Indian batting group, they’ve lost two Tests in a row and trail the series 2-1. While they showed some fight in the second Test, the third Test was a complete disaster. India crushed them by 434 runs, their biggest win ever.

England’s big loss has put their “Bazball” style under fire! Fans and experts in both England and India are slamming it. Some say the team’s lost touch with reality, while others think it’s the end of this aggressive approach altogether. But amid all the criticism, England’s coach Brendon McCullum is unfazed by it and still believes that it is the best way to go forward in the series. McCullum says that he is vary of the criticism but he believes in the abilities of his players and wants to give them a platform to play their natural game without any fear of losing.

Brendon McCullum opens up after record-breaking defeat in Rajkot

While speaking to BBC, McCullum said, “It’s up to us whether we want to listen to it or not. The dressing room is a very strong place where confidence is high and guys are backed to go out there and allow their talent to flourish. If we allow the outside noise to seep in, that’s our problem.”

He also emphasized the fact that they will fail sometimes but he is ready to take it up on his chin as he believes in the approach. He said, “We’ve still got some progress to make and some things to improve on, but we’re a better team now than we were 18 months ago.”

“We’re obviously not totally screwed down on the method yet. There will be times when we don’t quite get it right because it’s a hard way to play. It’s asking guys to take the game on and sometimes we have to deal with failure. Despite the heavy loss in the last match, fans will be expecting England to come back stronger in the next test match as they have done in the past. The 4th test of the series will be played in Ranchi from February 23rd.