India’s aggressive style of playing cricket is the talk of the cricket world right now. During the Kanpur Test against Bangladesh, the Men in Blue put up a dominant display to dismantle the hapless visitors despite two days lost due to rain.
India’s latest batting style in Tests has now drawn comparisons with England’s famous ‘Bazball’ approach. Legendary cricketers Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist spoke about the Indian team’s new approach and also called it ‘Gamball’.
Bazball is the term that arose from the name of England head coach Brendon McCullum for bringing an attacking style of play to the England Test team since his appointment as head coach. Similarly, Gamball is named after India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
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‘They copied England’: Michael Vaughan on India’s new batting approach
While speaking on a podcast on Club Prairie Fire, Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist discussed India’s latest batting approach that was evident during the Kanpur Test. Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan claimed that India were becoming “Bazballers” and copied England.
“I must say that this is an extraordinary Test match. India came on to bat…their cricket is fantastic. It’s great to see India now becoming Bazballers. They scored 285 in 34.4 overs, they copied England,” Vaughan said.
The Indian batsmen came out all guns blazing during the first innings of the Kanpur Test. Knowing that they had limited time to get a result out of the match, all the batsmen in the team played an aggressive style of cricket and put Bangladesh at a disadvantage.
Adam Gilchrist calls Indian style “Gamball”
Later, the former England captain went a step further and asked if England had accused India of playing an attacking brand of cricket.
Meanwhile, Adam Gilchrist termed India’s batting style as ‘Gamball’ during this conversation. “I think you’re fine. (Gautam) Gambhir has already patented GamBall. Now England must tread carefully,” Gilchrist said.
Vaughan was clearly not satisfied and compared Bazball to Gamball. “To me, Gamball looks a lot like Bazball,” he responded.
While Michael Vaughan also praised India for the incredible victory on social media, he also claimed that India is playing Bazball. He was trolled by users who blamed him for stealing credit.
“I see India is playing Bazball,” Vaughan had posted on X (formerly Twitter).
I see India is playing Bazball.. 👀👀
– Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) September 30, 2024
India beat Bangladesh 2-0
Meanwhile, it was a great Test match for India as they extended their dominance at home and took a firm position in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table. India is easily the number one team in the table, while Bangladesh has fallen to seventh place in the standings.
After bowling Bangladesh for 233 in the first innings, India scored 285-9 in just 34 overs to ignite the game. Then the Indian bowlers came on their own and dismissed the visitors for just 146 in the second innings.
With just 95 to win, India chased down the target in just 17.2 overs with Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli unbeaten till the end.