Cricket News

‘We will have to counter Bazball’ – India’s head coach Rahul Dravid after India’s loss against England

As India lost the first Test match against England in Hyderabad, Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid confessed that bowlers had no response for England's approach.

Jan 29, 2024 12:00 pm

England has demonstrated to the world that Indian spinners can be overcome against India in their own home. As India lost the first Test match against England in Hyderabad, Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid confessed that bowlers had no response to England’s approach.

“We will have to counter Bazball. I haven’t seen it done that consistently (playing sweeps and reverse sweeps) against bowlers of that calibre. You’ve seen players attempt it before and had some fantastic innings. But to be able to play it that consistently and well without making too many mistakes, and maybe one or two odd ones, I probably haven’t seen it,” Rahul Dravid stated during the post-match news conference following the first Test between India and England.

Before Ollie Pope held the Indian bowlers down, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley demonstrated how it was done. Travis Head and Alex Carey used to employ the identical reverse sweep strategy with success.

India need to find new methods and technique to overcome Bazball

However, Rahul Dravid has not lost faith in the Indian spinners. However, he stated that they did not carry out the strategy properly.

“We need to become more rigors about where we pitch the ball. We will work on it and improve since we have some world-class spinners. This is not the first time they have been questioned. “One of the best things about our spinners is that they always come back,” Rahul Dravid stated.

Ollie Pope played a masterstroke in batting as he scored 196 runs before getting dismissed by Bumrah. And Dravid expects Indian bowlers to react in the second Test against England in Vizag.

“We need to respond. We must find some methods and techniques to force Pope to take shots from even more difficult angles. We need to be much more focused and careful in our execution, since I thought it was a little off. “Hopefully, in the next Test match, if we get our execution right, he will make a mistake,” Rahul Dravid stated.