How 'Bazball' helped England dismantle India in the Edgbaston Test?

England have seen massive growth in Test cricket since the reconstruction of their think tank. 

England, who had won just one of seventeen games since their India tour in 2021, have emerged victorious in four consecutive Test matches under their new captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. 

To note, England clean-swept New Zealand in the recently concluded three-match series. Further, the three lions registered an emphatic victory over a robust Indian team in the Edgbaston Test, continuing their prolific run in red-ball cricket. 

With each victory of this England team, the discussions about the 'Bazball' is getting intensified. 

So, What's ‘Bazball’? 

For information, 'Bazball' is a term used to refer to the cricketing ideologies of Brendon McCullum. McCullum is renowned for his unconventional mindset as a cricketer. He is a person who considers taking the danger head-on as the best way of dealing with it. 

So, precisely, ‘Bazball’ is nothing but a set of McCullum's beliefs about how a team should play the game. 

How exactly ‘Bazball’ proved to be a difference between England and India in the Edgbaston Test? 

The England batters were able to fulfil McCullum's demand of 'positive batting' in the Test match. 

While the Englishmen constantly rotated the strike even on good balls, most of their Indian counterparts seemed satisfied with either leaving or defending similar deliveries. 

Further, 'Bazball' also seemed to have influenced England's on-field strategies. 

We vividly remember how Joe Root let the Lord's Test slip off England's hands by setting an ultra-defensive field against the Indian tailenders last year. 

But, on the contrary, Stokes has always placed an attacking field since taking the reins as the England captain. The Edgbaston Test was also not an exception as England's premier allrounder kept the field up throughout India's second innings, inviting their batters to go aerial.   

The members of its leadership group mutually decide the on-field tactics of a team. Therefore, McCullum, an integral part of England's think tank, deserves some credit for the immense improvement in their game awareness. 

The 'Bazball' also had a significant hand behind India's dramatic collapse on the fourth day of the Test match. When the Englishmen were desperate to break the stand between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, McCullum signalled them to bowl at Iyer's ribcage. 

Apart from giving them Iyer's wicket, this move showed England the ideal way to bowl on the flat Edgbaston surface. 

On the other hand, the Indian pacers didn't seem to be as proactive as their counterparts. They waited for things to happen instead of making them happen. 

The Indian seamers primarily focused on hitting the good length despite not getting enough movement off the deck. Moreover, the Indian think-tank seemed reluctant to adopt unconventional bowling strategies, making things easier for the English batters. 

Resulting in four consecutive victories for the Englishmen, the 'Bazball' has started proving to be the exact thing England needed for their renaissance in Test cricket. 

Now, with England's middle order woes resolved, the upcoming challenge for Brendon McCullum is to empower England with a formidable top order and a game-changing spin unit in Tests. And if he does that, nothing can stop England from becoming the best all-format team in international cricket.