Hello Friends,
I am back with yet another edition of Sports Talk Of The Month. This month witnessed some exciting sporting action specially from the cricketing world.
- Australian men's team exhibiting a dominant performance in the white ball format specially in the T20Is first against West Indies by winning both white ball series convincingly and then a 3-0 sweep against the kiwis.
- Indian men's U19 team continued the trend of a strong performance in World Cups by delivering a power packed performance despite their loss in the final. Yet another ODI World Cup final and yet another loss to the mighty Aussies, this time to the future generations though.
- New Zealand men's team winning their first ever test series against a depleted Proteas side courtesy some stunning performances by Kane Williamson.
- New look Sri Lankan men's team under new captains showing strong performances against Afghanistan across formats.
- Australian women's team emerging triumphant in both red ball and white ball series against South Africa under new captain Alyssa Healy.
- Excitement continues in the marquee test series between India & England as Bazball faces a tough challenge , to certain extent getting a dose of their own medicines. India's series victory is bound to raise the debate once again on the way test cricket should be played.
- Exciting start to the 2nd edition of Women's Premier League (WPL) in India.
- In the world of franchise T20 leagues SA 20 saw an exciting finish to its second season with Sunrisers Eastern Cape winning their second title. ILT20 too wrapped up yet another season whereas new season of PSL(Pakistan Super League) kicked off.
- There were some smiling faces at the Badminton Asia Team Championship finale held at Malaysia as the Indian women's team won the title led by PV Sindhu.
But the story that is going to be featured in this edition is one of the modern day cricketing styles that has taken the world of cricket by storm due to its innovative approach and a mindset of challenging the traditional approach.
A Style Or A Mindset
Cricketing world has gone through several transformations in the recent past. Innovative shots, out of the box strategies by teams, unorthodox field placements to name a few that have become regular features these days. Amongst all such things one particular style of play has drawn a lot of attention in last couple of years. Englishmen's approach towards test cricket has seen a drastic change in the recent past under the leadership of Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum duo. Popularly known as Bazball (Baz being the nickname of McCullum) this particular brand is termed as an aggressive style of playing test cricket, though on a hindsight it is lot more than just an aggressive style.
Prior to Stokes-McCullum era English cricket had seen a downward spiral under Joe Root when their manner of losses were discussed more than the losses. A desperate situation for one of the oldest stalwarts of test cricket demanded substantial measures too. That's when the duo who are known for their own aggressive style of play came together to start a new era in English cricket. People may see this as T20 approach in test cricket or a way to make test cricket more entertaining, but there have been lot of work done on the backend. Let's have a detailed look on how this approach has the potential to give test cricket a completely different perspective.
The ever increasing popularity of T20 cricket keeps on bringing the debate on the future of test cricket. There was a time when Australia used to play an aggressive brand of test cricket resulting in an extremely successful period with consecutive series wins. But with time and as per the conditions they also adapted to a somewhat conservative approach. At times the Aussies were criticized for slow batting in the recent past that had been an obstacle in getting a result in their favour. But the current approach by the English test team has rewritten all the rulebooks. They have structured it in such a way that draw as a result is completely out of question as they are scoring at a real fast pace resulting in enough time to force a result.
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| Ben Stokes has been instrumental as test captain so far Image Credit: https://flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/43913263924/ |
Moreover they are not trying to change their style as per the conditions which is bound to keep the opposition at bay. Though it's a matter of debate whether they should adapt to the conditions first before going all guns blazing as the recent series against India saw their vulnerability as a batting group when they didn't try to adapt to tricky pitches.
When everyone talking about their risk taking ability or aggressive batting the aspect that should be applauded is the shift of mindset in such a short span of time. They almost started getting the desired results immediately since the appointment of Stokes-McCullum duo. Lot of credit should be given to both of them for getting the entire team on the same page to implement something exciting. At the same time England cricket board and team management should also be given due credit for creating an environment where every member of the team is backed to go and play fearless cricket.
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| Scenes from an Ashes test match Image Credit: https://flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/48630604848/ |
To Be Aggressive Or Sensible
Whenever a new process or strategy comes into the picture there are always some pros along with cons. If Bazball approach has a lot of positives to talk about, the aspects which can be addressed as work in progress should also be highlighted. Recent series against India as well as the last Ashes series has shown quite a few loopholes in this high risk high reward approach. There is a thin line between being aggressive and reckless which the English batters forget at times. They had their moments against the high flying Aussies in the Ashes which they couldn't capitalize on mostly because of their reckless batting during crucial phases.
Even the recent India series also saw opportunities which they should have grabbed but couldn't just because they failed to adapt to the conditions. Probably a bit of a tweak in mindset is needed in this aspect too. There is no doubt that their approach pushes the opposition on backfoot form the word go but at the end of the day results what matter. Despite all the hype and talks they haven't been able to qualify for last year's WTC final which was played on their home soil and even this year too they are languishing at the bottom half of the points table at the moment slowly diminishing their chances of qualifying for the home finale next year too.
If we consider Bazball as a newly implemented business strategy in a particular business unit, it will have its various positive & negative aspects. Let's have a quick look on the various aspects of Bazball in a nutshell.
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Is It The Way Forward
Great to see coach and captain showing enough faith on their process as well as on the players despite a disappointing series loss against India. Best part about Stokes-McCullum duo is they are not afraid to accept their mistakes. That's one of the biggest qualities of a leadership group to take its team in the right direction. Despite all the criticism they have received in the recent past they have the potential to create a legacy of their own just like Eoin Morgan and his team did years back. As spectators we would expect that they continue gifting us some breathtaking action in the longest format of the game.
Stay tuned for more at this space.
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