England’s Zak Crawley performs a shot through the Ashes Test. Crawley stated England’s upcoming tour to India in January-March 2024 presents them with an ‘amazing opportunity’ to showcase ‘Bazball’ however adapting to circumstances would be the key.
| Photo Credit: AP
The swashbuckling opener Zak Crawley stated England’s upcoming tour to India in January-March 2024 presents them with an ‘superb alternative’ to showcase ‘Bazball’ however adapting to circumstances would be the key.
India will host England in a five-match Test sequence subsequent 12 months, and talks are already on about whether or not the latter would have the ability to observe their aggressive model of cricket on Indian pitches.
The sequence, for the Anthony de Mello Trophy, will get underway in Hyderabad with the primary Test scheduled from January 25-29, the second Test is at Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), the third at Rajkot (February 15-19), the fourth at Ranchi (February 23-27) and the fifth and last Test at Dharamsala (March 7-11).
“I don’t really know much about their grounds,” Crawley was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo after the conclusion of the Ashes sequence in opposition to Australia.
Among the 5 venues, the final time Hyderabad and Rajkot hosted a Test was in 2018, whereas Ranchi and Visakhapatnam final performed hosts in 2019.
The circumstances could possibly be new and difficult for India at Dharamsala too, because the venue has hosted just one Test up to now — in opposition to Australia in 2017.
“Sometimes in India it seams and swings a bit — and they’ve got unbelievable seamers — so hopefully there are a couple of pitches there that are like that as well, that will suit us a bit more,” he said.
With the World Cup 2023 being the biggest cricket draw in the second half of this year, England’s Test cricketers will get an extended break before their next assignment in India.
India will restart their long-form assignments against South Africa in December with the Boxing Day Test. “I am unable to keep in mind having six months off (between Tests) earlier than,” Crawley said.
Crawley made 480 runs with a hundred and two fifties at an average of 53.33 in the Ashes and his strike-rate was a stunning 88.72.
In fact, he was the highest run-getter for England in the series, and second highest overall behind Australia’s Usman Khawaja.
Now, he wanted to take Bazball to India.
“I’ll tick off a little bit of T20 and hopefully a little bit of white-ball stuff someplace, however then (getting) again into it in India will probably be an incredible alternative for our staff to see how we go in these circumstances,” he stated.
“But if it’s spinning…I feel like we play spin really well as well. We’ll just have to adapt, see what we get. But they are pretty unknown grounds — I don’t know if they’re going to be raggers like Ahmedabad and Chennai, where we were last time,” he added.
England, who’s having a profitable run with the Bazball strategy, final gained a Test sequence in India in 2011-12 and since then have just one win to indicate from subsequent excursions in 2016-17 and 2020-21.
In February 2021, Joe Root-powered England handed India a 227-run defeat in Chennai on a pitch that didn’t go well with the house staff bowlers, however the hosts then got here firing again within the remaining three Tests to take the sequence 3-1.
Source: www.thehindu.com
