Former England cricketer David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd believes Virat Kohli can transform the Indian batting approach and inspire a similar change that England have undergone under Ben Stokes’s stewardship with the guidance of their aggressive head coach Brendon McCullum.
The way Stokes-McCullum era has seen England bat with extreme freedom and gusto to operate with a rate of scoring well above 6 runs an over, Lloyd thinks, Virat could do the same to India by leading the way with the bat and inspiring other Indian batters to follow suit.
Lloyd’s remarks were made in his column for the Daily Mail, where he wrote that England’s approach isn’t totally revolutionary since he has seen the mighty Australians and West Indians at their peak opt for an approach that was ahead of its times.
Indian cricket over the years has followed a measured, proficient, technically correct means to score runs at the Test level, with the great legacy of the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and others.
But Lloyd thinks the time has come for that to change and the man to put in charge for such a transformation, he believes, should be Kohli, the former India skipper and the side’s critical No.4 batter.
“It is not totally new, of course. The Australian team of the 90s were very positive and the great West Indian sides were full of exhilarating stroke-makers. I reckon a team capable of this style now is India. They have all the tools. There has been a suspicion that Indian batters are stats-driven but Virat Kohli is one who could drive this,”
he wrote.
Earlier this week, England completed a historic triumph in the Rawalpindi Test match against Pakistan, where Stokes and co. stuck to their guns with the bat in hand and posted a gigantic 657 in the first innings, and declared 264/7 in the second half. On both occasions, they batted at well over run-a-ball for the over, and that gave England bowlers ample time to pick up 20 wickets on a largely docile surface.
The tourists were taken for 579 in the first-innings by Babar Azam-led side batting unit, but they came roaring back to dismiss the opposition for only 268 on the final day’s play, when their high-end SR with the bat came to make a huge impact as England thwarted bad light threat to coast to their first Test win in Pakistan 22 years, making their first trip to the nation for Tests after 17 years.
It was another example of how ‘Bazball’ is altering England’s style of play. Nicknamed after McCullum and his trademark fashion with the bat during his playing days for New Zealand, the term technically refers to an approach where the batting side is on a quest to destroy the opposition field-settings and plans by never allowing the bowlers to settle on their lengths and lines.
England did that to perfection against an inexperienced Pakistan attack, missing their spearhead Shaheen Afridi to an injury and fielding three debutants on a super flat surface.
They then showed their smarts and skills in executing their bowling plans which revolved mainly around scuffing up the ball for potential reverse swing and also the use of tall release of their seamers in the final hours of play when the ball kept low.
The pace duo of Ollie Robinson and James Anderson did that to very good effect on Day 5, bagging eight wickets between them to play chief architects with the ball in an incredible Test win.
Also read 👉 “I don’t have any idea what ‘Bazball’ is?” – England coach McCullum calls it “silly term”
