‘I have 18 months to do some special things’, McCullum Adamant to continue with Bazball
England will take on India in the fifth and final Test on March 7 and would look to end the series on a winning note.
New Delhi: The England cricket team and Brendon McCullum’s renowned ‘Bazball’ approach have come under a lot of fire after their dismal performance in the ongoing Test series against India. The Ben Stokes-led side won the opening Test but then lost three Tests in a row, losing the series 1–3 with one Test remaining.
However, England’s red ball coach is steadfast in his stance and believes the Three-Lions have made a lot of progress over the last eighteen months and will do much better in the next eighteen months with their current approach.
“There are moments in games where we haven’t completely messed up our method yet. We lost here, didn’t win the Ashes (2-2), but we are a better team than we were 18 months ago, and we have the opportunity in the next 18 months to do something special,” McCullum told the British media.
With India taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, it is also England’s first series defeat under captain-coach duo Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum
India’s victory in the fourth Test came courtesy of knocks of 90 and 39 not out from Dhruv Jurel as he shared a crucial 76-run stand for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep Yadav in the first innings and a decisive partnership of 72 runs for the sixth wicket with Shubman Gill, who made 55 not out.
With the ball, debutant fast bowler Akash Deep took three wickets on day one, followed by Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep with 5-51 and 4-22 respectively in the second innings, giving India their 17th consecutive Test series win at home.
Due to a combination of injuries, rest and personal reasons, India missed Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in the series. But the hosts still came out on the winning side and recorded their 17th consecutive Test series win.
But the visitors can take great heart from off-spinner Shoaib Bashir’s match win of eight wickets, including five in the first innings, which was not enough to stop India from winning the series.