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'We Will Drop At Least Four Players...,' Ashwin Takes Sarcastic Dig At Impatient Indian Fans

image-lktwnhatEngland players during 2023 Ashes (Twitter)

England’s ‘Bazball’ policy has earned them much success in the last one year across Tests. Ever since Ben Stokes took over team’s captaincy role from Joe Root, at the same time when Brendon McCullum was inducted as head coach, the Englishmen have employed an aggressive-yet-calculated approach to their game.

Minting runs at rapid rates, Stokes and co. registered a 3-0 win over New Zealand at home last June to launch their new brand of cricket. They followed it up with wins over India and South Africa, while their philosophy peaked when they registered an away whitewash against Pakistan later in 2022. Quite recently, they drew level the 2023 Ashes with a win in the final Test against WTC 2023 winners Australia.

While England’s high-risk high-reward approach has worked for them, spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin recently admitted that the Indian team right now cannot afford to take that route in Tests.

Ashwin makes big claims about ‘Bazball’

Ravichandran Ashwin recently claimed that adopting ‘BazBall’ will not be as easy for India as it has been for England. The all-rounder added that the English team management persisted with their squad through their approach transition last year, while the Indian team might have to drop at least four players from the playing XI if they lost a match or two upfront.

The legendary cricketer also stated that the Indian team is already performing well in Tests, and they are primed for some issues especially when their senior members will eventually retire in a few years.

“We are playing Test cricket really well. But we will go through a transition very soon, and things won’t be easy during that phase. There will be a few issues here and there.”


“Let us assume India is adopting Bazball during this transition phase. Let us assume a player throws his bat at everything like Harry Brook and gets out and we lose two Test matches. What will we do? Will we back the Bazball and the players? We will drop at least four players from our playing XI.”

Despite their recent run of success, England’s ‘Bazball’ will undergo its litmus test when Ben Stokes and co. tour India next January for a five-match series.

The two teams will face each other across Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamshala, with the series opener set to commence on January 25.