Will the England team put their baseball aside? This is the question on everyone's mind after losing three consecutive Tests at the hands of Team India. Brendan McCullum, the coach of that team, recently responded to this.
The England team, which came to India under the name of baseball and was badly hit, is now facing severe criticism both at home and abroad. The team did not listen to the warnings from earlier that baseball cannot be played in countries like India. As a result, Ben Stokes as a captain and McCullum as a coach suffered their first series defeat. McCullum recently responded to this.
Buzzball aside?
After the arrival of Ben Stokes as the England captain and Brendon McCullum as the coach, the new name that the team introduced to Test cricket was Buzzball. This style is to play traditional five-day cricket as well. At first they gave good results and thought everything was fine. But not being able to win the Ashes series last year and now losing the series against India is pouring in criticism.
This raises the question whether this baseball will be kept aside by England. Coach McCullum recently responded to this. He spoke to the English media. "We haven't been able to execute our style in matches at times. We lost here. We didn't win the Ashes. But we are a better team than we were 18 months ago. We will have opportunities in the next 18 months. We will continue to try to overcome these tough challenges. It is a very bad time to be an England coach. Nothing," said McCullum.
Team India check for Buzball
McCullum came as coach in 2022. England's style of play has changed since then. At the same time, Ben Stokes also became the captain. The combination of these two increased the aggression in the team. That's when Buzball started. In 18 matches, England won 13, lost 4 and drew one. Before this style, England lost 11 of 17 Tests, won just one and drew five. Overall, these are very good results.
But the team fell into this baseball craze and lost two series. The prestigious Ashes series had to be drawn 2-2. And now with a hat-trick of defeats in the hands of India, the series has been lost with one more Test remaining. With this, criticism started slowly on Buzbal. Team India players like Ashwin and Siraj and former England players also warned that baseball will not work on spin pitches in India.
But England did not listen. In the first innings of the fourth Test, this style seemed to be put aside, but it collapsed again in the second innings. Although they won the first test and appeared to be on a high, their dominance did not last long. Coach McCullum still says there is no slowing down. And let's see if England learns lessons from baseball.🏏🤔
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