India will be the ultimate stress test for Bazball’s first rule of being endlessly positive.
No other tour challenges the senses and the strength of a team as much as this one. The fact that only four England captains have won a series here in 90 years says so. Ben Stokes offers to be the fifth and has already been deprived of his young star batsman, Harry Brook, and a promising unknown in Shoaib Bashir, who has unknowingly become embroiled in the power play between India and Pakistan due to his family heritage, anyway. of being born in Surrey. Stokes also comes armed with a spin attack based on Jack Leach, who has not bowled for six months, three youngsters and Joe Root.
It’s enough to instill a sense of dread, but Stokes and Brendon McCullum only know one language and that is to talk about the possibilities on offer here and how they can seize the opportunity when Thursday brings what promises to be a fascinating series , begins. “This is the toughest place to win a match, let alone a series, and the exciting thing for us as a group is that we have a great opportunity in front of us to do something,” said Stokes. Mark Wood was also there. He said: “There aren’t many teams that come here and win. To be honest, it’s a free pass.”
When Stokes spoke after training on Tuesday, there was no trace of negativity, just confidence in his team, particularly the three specialist spinners, who are greener than any pitch England will see this side of June. “We have picked the spinners who we think will give us the best chance of winning here, regardless of their experience. Sometimes experience can be a little overrated and overthought,” he said.
McCullum was very vocal at the nets whenever Rehan Ahmed beat the bat or found the outside edge, making up imaginary pitches for him with four slips, and England’s main training session before the first Test series at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium was lively, with the most looked like although they lost weight over Christmas and are happy to be back together in preparation for their first Test series in six months since the Ashes. “It’s something that I’ve noticed and it’s something that every individual has taken on,” Stokes said of fitness.
There will be plenty in India hoping that Bazball crashes and is done with the ‘told you so’ statements. But Bazball is really nothing more than a mental tool, a state of mind: be brave, always choose the positive option in the pursuit of victory and entertainment.
Stuart Broad recently revealed that he had to train himself to have such a bushy tail, exaggerating the quality of his morning cappuccino just to give off a good feeling. It all sounds corny to outsiders, but it works for these players.
They had won one Test out of 17 before the culture change and have recorded 13 wins out of 18 since. Two of the Tests they lost were by one run and two wickets. The weather in Manchester denied them their greatest ever Ashes comeback. Rediscovering that buzz (and sustaining it) against a team that has lost just three of 46 Tests at home in a country where claustrophobia can stifle cricketers will be a vital learning point on the journey to the next Ashes.
The test for the Bazballers with the bat will of course be tough in Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, but it is the taking of 20 wickets that will push the boundaries of even Stokes’ fertile imagination. His grit on the pitches will give Tom Hartley, Rehan and Bashir confidence when they play. Australia think they are funky opening the batting with Steve Smith. Stokes may open the bowling with Joe Root.
Every player has a story to tell as he starts the first Test. Can Zak Crawley back up his Ashes performance? Will Ben Duckett melt for Ashwin again? How will Ollie Pope fit back in at the age of three? Can Rootbat do it with controlled aggression? Will Jonny Bairstow respond appropriately to losing the goalkeeper gloves? Would Stokes be better at number 3 and how will he handle Ashwin too? Is Foakes really good enough with the bat? Can Leach get back in the game and become Stokes’s Mr. Reliable? Is James Anderson ready?
That’s all before you look at three spinners with barely a first-class career between them. Stokes invested a lot of faith in Leach before the stress fracture that robbed him of an Ashes series, giving him the belief that he can be more than a one-end bowler. Leach has looked a foot taller under Stokes so far. “First and foremost he will be able to talk to the boys and tell them what it is like to bowl under my captaincy,” Stokes said.
The field is predictably barren on both sides and will turn from day one. On Tuesday the sun remained open, although it is winter and not unbearably warm, around 25 degrees. India will play three spinners, England probably the same, although there will probably be Root. It seems like a gamble to go with one sailor, given the fitness records of the fast ones on tour.
Virat Kohli’s absence for two Tests makes India’s batting look thinner and puts more emphasis on Rohit Sharma’s success. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is still trying to find his place and Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill are inconsistent.
The Rajiv Gandhi Stadium is proof that cricket grounds have been named after politicians long before Narendra Modi got into the act, but while the neon orange seats are striking, the place exudes a faded grandeur. Pigeons sat on top of Gandhi’s portrait – in all cricket white and leaning on a bat – which stands outside the away dressing room, and the World Cup logo was still visible three months after the stadium hosted its last match.
After spoiling the final, there is probably more pressure on India than on England. For once, staying positive and courageous would come more naturally to visitors than to hosts.