India’s former opening batter, Aakash Chopra, has criticized England’s batting performance during the recent 4-1 T20I series defeat against India, as he noted that their famous ‘Bazball’ approach invited trouble on most occasions. Their batting didn’t click at all for the entire series.
England started the series with a seven-wicket defeat at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata before finishing the second close game in Chennai with a two-wicket victory. Their better bowling performance during the third T20I in Rajkot secured a 26-run victory before the hosts sealed the series with a 15-run win. In Mumbai, they were bundled out for below 100 in less than 10 overs to gain a 150-run defeat.
Aakash Chopra revealed that Jos Buttler and his team’s batting approach was found wanting against spin and swing. Despite being in a strong position on many occasions in the game, they let the advantage slip.
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“England, the less we say about you, the better it is because your game was extremely ordinary. Phil Salt (played) in one match, Buttler (played) in two matches, and Ben Duckett in one-and-a-half matches. In batting, Harry Brook in one match and Liam Livingstone in half a match.” The Uttar Pradesh-born expressed this in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
“The performance was not there at all. They aren’t able to play if the ball spins a little, and they find it difficult if it swings. They say Bazball, but at times I feel they say ‘Aa bail mujhe maar‘, they bat like that many times.” Aakash Chopra added in the interaction.
Piyush Chawla criticizes England’s performance against spinners vs India
Jos Buttler was the leading run-getter of the visiting side with the help of 146 runs at an average of 29.20 and a strike rate of 137.73, shouldering on one half-century at the best score of 68. He was the lone batter to cross the 100-run mark in the five-match T20I series.
Their best bowler of the series for England was Brydon Carse, with nine scalps in four innings at an average of below 15 and a strike rate of around 11.
During a discussion on Star Sports, India’s former spinner, Piyush Chawla, highlighted their struggles against spin with Phil Salt being the only player of the side to score more than 10 runs during the T20I clash at the Wankhede Stadium.
“This happens quite often if the opposition team scores nearly 250 runs in a T20 game, you either see the team reaching 200-225 or they get out for 100-120, and that’s what we got to see today (Sunday) with England. However, the story of this series has been that whenever spin has come, England have gotten out.” Chawla shed light.
India’s experienced spinner noted that the visitors failed to make the promising start in the game, as Shivam Dube proved that Harshit Rana was the right concussion substitute for his skills with the ball during the second Pune T20I.
“Today also they started well, it was a destructive start, but after that wickets kept falling continuously. Shivam Dube came and put to rest all the questions people had raised about the concussion substitute because he bowled like that and picked up two wickets.” Chawla concluded.
Dube picked up two wickets in England’s batting, while Mohammad Shami was the most successful bowler with figures of 3/25. The Buttler-led side focuses on the three ODIs, followed by the Champions Trophy 2025. They will start their campaign for the ICC event against arch-rivals Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.