With series on the line, India hope to stop the Bazball juggernaut

Back in 2013, after causing one of the biggest upsets in Tennis history, Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky had choice of words that were interesting and fascinating in equal measure.

"When you play Roger Federer at Wimbledon, it's like you're playing two persons. First you play Roger Federer and then you play his ego,” he said. 

What he meant was this: when you’re playing a person of Federer’s stature, you’ll have to deal with not just Federer the Tennis player but also the hype that surrounds him. The legend. The spectacle. 

It is so darn easy for opponents to get intimidated. 

Bazball is barely a month old but such is the hype around it already, that India will feel like they’re going to come up against two different things at Edgbaston: England the cricket team and the phenomenon that is Bazball. 

After what happened in the New Zealand series, it won’t be unfair to say the prospect of India winning the series will depend on how they deal with the hype surrounding Bazball rather than how much better they are than England the cricket team. 

READ: England’s exhilarating fast ride in the Baz-ball lane

In terms of quality, New Zealand were not far off England in the recently-concluded three-Test series. In fact, the series was so close that it could very easily have ended 3-0 in favor of the Kiwis had a couple of moments gone their way. 

But they were so intimidated by Bazball that they subconsciously ended up losing the plot. 

The challenge for India, then, will be to focus on their own objectives and not pay any heed to what happens on the other side. 

In his press conference prior to the game, head coach Rahul Dravid highlighted the importance of the same.

“We've got to focus on our cricket and not worry so much about what England is doing and what it is they're playing. We've got to focus on what we've got to do,” Dravid said.

The big question is if they’ll be able to do it.

Because Bazball will be assertive. Bazball will be aggressive. Bazball will be ambitious and Bazball will be in-the-face.   

A one-of-a-kind challenge awaits the Indian side in Birmingham. Quite the first assignment for Jasprit Bumrah. 

READ: From 2021 to 2022: what has changed for England and India

All eyes on the Edgbaston wicket

Amidst all the Bazball chaos, one thing that slipped under the radar during the New Zealand series was just how flat the wickets were. Extremely un-English, if you could say that. 

The initial County Championship rounds witnessed an unusual number of high-scoring drawn encounters and all three Tests in the New Zealand series also oversaw wickets that were flat. 

Barring the first innings of the Lord’s Test — that eventually proved to be an oddity — the average runs per wicket was close to 40. England chased down 250+ totals in the fourth innings in all three games and the Trent Bridge game saw both sides post 500+ scores in the first innings. Bowlers from both sides struggled once the ball got old and barring the odd session where the ball moved around prodigiously, it was the batters that were in charge. 

The numbers tell us that since 2013, there has only been one other series in England — 2015 against New Zealand — that’s been more batter-friendly.

The question, then, is: will England be brave enough to dish out a similar wicket to a team like India, that thrives on flat pitches?

Historically, the Three Lions have always greeted the Indian side with green tops but one suspects that to achieve full-on Bazball, England will have to be playing on wickets that lean towards the batter-friendly side of the spectrum. With the series also on the line, one assumes that England will also prefer to be deploying Bazball tactics on wickets they are accustomed to. 

But it is a catch-22 situation because India, too, will feel they’ll have a far better chance of winning on flat wickets. Not only because it’ll serve as an advantage to their batters but because they know they have a bowling attack capable of taking 20 wickets on any surface.  

How the Edgbaston wicket plays might prove to be more significant than what we think. 

The trial by pace that awaits Shubman Gill

Following a breathtaking debut against Australia, Shubman Gill’s Test career has not hit the heights everyone expected it to. In 7 Tests since his famous Gabba blitz, he’s averaged 24.91, during which time his highest score has been 52.

Partly, Gill’s career has not taken off because of its start-stop nature: injuries have plagued him constantly. The 22-year-old missed the South Africa tour earlier this year — which he would have started, with Rohit also injured — due to recurring problems on his shin, while he missed the entirety of the England tour last year also due to injury, during which time he was still the incumbent. The Edgbaston Test on Friday will, in fact, be Gill’s first since the Wankhede encounter against New Zealand in November last year.

But the right-hander has not set the stage alight also owing to his struggles against pace. Post the Australia tour, Gill has averaged a shocking 14.22 against pace, being dismissed by the quicker bowlers 9/12 times. He has, in particular, struggled against the ball coming in, averaging 11.7 while being dismissed 6 times. Notably, he’s been dismissed either LBW or bowled six times in this period, a consequence of him being susceptible to induckers. 

At Edgbaston, Gill has big responsibility on his shoulders in the absence of incumbents KL Rahul and skipper Rohit Sharma, both of whom masterfully negated the English pacers last time around. He is all set to be the senior opener in the side.

But in order to thrive, the youngster will have to get through the brutal trial by pace by England’s trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Matt Potts, who will not only exploit his weakness — which is the ball coming in — but will also keep him honest by bombarding him with balls that go the other way. 

At 22, Gill has already played a significant role in one of the most famous wins in the country’s history. But despite having 10 extra Tests and a year of experience under his belt, the right-hander might be in for his toughest examination yet. 

England will want ‘some’ contribution from their openers

England beating New Zealand 3-0 by playing an absurdly attacking brand of cricket was remarkable enough. But what made it even more ridiculous was the fact that they managed to do so despite getting little to no contribution from the openers. In 12 innings between them in the series, Crawley and Lees combinedly scored 256 runs, passing fifty just once. The left-handed Lees, at least, struck a 67 and played a couple of other handy knocks, but Crawley was an out-and-out passenger against the Kiwis. 

Now, the pair are suddenly not going to turn into Hayden and Langer, but England will want at least ‘some’ contribution from the two openers. It could be a quickfire, counter-punching 40 from Crawley. Or Lees occupying the crease for 20 overs and frustrating the Indian bowlers. Or the duo putting on a fifty run-stand. Something.

Because let’s face it, while Ben Stokes’ side managed to dig themselves out of a hole over and over against New Zealand, they are far less likely to do so against a much stronger, much more ruthless and efficient Indian side. Which is why they will need all players to chip in with some sort of a valuable contribution.

It speaks volumes about England’s top-order struggles that expectations have been lowered to this extent, but given this is a one-game shootout to decide the fate of the series, Stokes and McCullum, one suspects, will take anything and everything they get from the bat of Lees and Crawley.

Probable XIs

England: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Matty Potts, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

India: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Prasidh Krishna / Mohammed Siraj