Going into lunch on Day 2, England’s lead was over 100 runs with nine wickets in hand. But what followed was unprecedented, the side got bundled out from 65/1 to 164. While the Bazball approach is renowned for its attacking play, many players have been critical of the kind of shots the batters have played in the Test match. It was not just this innings, but even in the first innings, England could only manage to get 172. Former Indian off-spinner R Ashwin made scathing remarks and said, “How reckless will reckless suffice?”
“But how reckless will reckless suffice? I am actually thinking, where will the bandwidth of the word ‘reckless’ remain? If you keep putting everything into that bandwidth, how reckless can even reckless get? Because I am saying that, you know, there are many things. I don’t want to take names of players. Even in the Indian team, there will be many next-generation players who, I mean, the fielders are back on the boundary, yet they take the chance, they hit lofted shots,” on his YouTube channel.
“As a batting group, how reckless can you be? Because on the first day, you were knocked out for 172, you lost five wickets in the space of 12 or 15 or maybe 20 runs. After that your bowling attack wrestled the initiative back, gave you a 40-run lead. And your first job as a batting unit is to give your bowlers enough rest. And Rahul (Dravid) bhai always says, give your bowlers overnight rest and see how your bowlers respond. Today they came and cleaned up the last wicket. The England bowlers, I am sure, would have wanted to put their feet up, and in no time they are back on the park looking to defend 200, which is paltry,” he added.
The Australian side missed out on Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood due to injuries. “In my view, England, minus Pat Cummins minus Hazlewood have been hammered, and truly hammered, after they put on a show and thinking Bazball has come to town. They have been hammered for reckless cricket. So I know Michael Vaughan was saying on commentary that this team knows how to come back. I hope they do, because this will become a very, very, very long tour otherwise.”
Australia needed 205 runs to win the Test match, and Travis Head’s 123 from 83 balls took care of the chase.
