Cricket fans are eagerly waiting for the five-match Test series between England and India, starting on June 20. This series comes at a special time for Indian cricket. After three great Indian players retired recently, a new era has begun. A young captain, Shubman Gill, is now in charge. With fresh energy, Gill will hope for a strong start in his first big job as India’s Test captain. But he faces a unique challenge: the Bazball Evolution of England’s Test cricket.
There’s something very special about Test cricket played in England. And more specifically, how England has been playing Test cricket. Since Brendon McCullum became their Head Coach in 2022, the English team has changed their style of play completely. This new way of playing is known around the world as “Bazball.” The Bazball Evolution has made Test cricket very exciting.
The term “Bazball” is used by everyone in cricket like a popular new toy. There’s something about it that makes it a big topic before every Test series. For every cricket fan, “Bazball” is almost a mystery. Imagine Joe Root, a classic Test batter, walking in and hitting a reverse sweep for a boundary on his very first ball! Sounds strange, right? Yet, he has been doing it. All the English players have been playing a different, very aggressive style of cricket since 2022. The Indian team will have to be very careful about this Bazball Evolution. So, what exactly is Bazball? And how can the Indian team handle this new challenge?
Decoding the Bazball Evolution: More Than Just Aggression
To truly understand the Bazball Evolution, we need to look back at where English cricket was before it started.
Before Brendon McCullum, Chris Silverwood was England’s Head Coach from October 2019. Under Silverwood, England played 34 Test matches but won only 10 of them. This was a very poor record. Silverwood faced a lot of criticism for many reasons. One of the biggest criticisms was leaving out experienced bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad during the first Test of the Ashes series in 2021-22 in Australia. His game plans and decisions were often messy. He also got attention for changing players too often (rotation policy), especially when England lost series in India and at home to New Zealand in 2021. At home, England managed to win only four out of 12 Tests between October 2019 and May 2022.
English cricket was not in a good state, and things clearly needed to change. That’s when Brendon McCullum was appointed as the head coach for Test cricket in May 2022. Under McCullum, England’s performance changed dramatically. They only lost their first away Test nine months later, on February 23, 2024, by a tiny margin of just one run against New Zealand. At home, the team has been incredibly successful, winning 15 out of 20 games and losing only four.
McCullum, a former aggressive New Zealand opener, brought in a new method. This method involved taking smart risks and controlling how fast the game was played. At this point, if you’re thinking that the Bazball Evolution is just about playing aggressive cricket, you’re probably wrong. It’s much deeper than that.
Let’s look at the numbers to understand the Bazball Evolution better. Between 2018 and 2021, England’s top seven batters averaged 32.35 runs in Tests at home. This was the second-lowest average for any home team that played more than 10 Tests. However, since 2022, under McCullum, that number has shot up to a very respectable 43.86 at home, making it the second-best average among all teams.
This improvement shows that “Bazball” is not just about hitting every ball hard. If it were only about hitting with muscle and power, then the English captain, Ben Stokes, who is known for his aggressive batting, would have the highest average. But his average is 34.02 in Tests since 2022, which is the sixth-best for England. This proves that Bazball Evolution is not just about simple aggression.
Bazball isn’t just a style of play. Bazball is a mindset. It is not about hitting every single ball for a boundary. Instead, it’s an aggressive style of cricket that carefully considers the game situation. Bazball isn’t madness without a plan. It is a method behind the madness. It is about having a free mind, and the ability to fully trust one’s own strengths and play with extreme confidence. This core idea is the heart of the Bazball Evolution.
The Growth of the Bazball Evolution: A Complete Reboot
England’s Test team was in a tough spot. They had won just one match in 17 Tests under Joe Root by 2020-21. After trying to make small changes that didn’t work, they were ready for a complete fresh start or “reboot.”
Right from the very first match for Ben Stokes as captain in 2022, it was clear that England was going to play cricket in a completely new way. In a Test match at Lord’s against New Zealand, Stokes was given a second chance after being dropped. He then bravely counter-attacked, putting pressure back on the New Zealand team. This helped England win the match, signaling the true beginning of the Bazball Evolution.
McCullum and his team faced a small challenge after England lost to South Africa in the first Test in August 2022. England were bowled out for low scores of 169 and 154 runs. Even after this loss, McCullum said that they could have been “more aggressive” to put pressure back on the South African team. This shows the incredibly positive and aggressive mindset that drives the Bazball Evolution.
The numbers clearly show the impact of the Bazball Evolution. The British team used to score runs at a rate of 3.05 runs per over in Test cricket between 2019 and 2022. That number has jumped to 4.63 runs per over. Also, the team’s batting average was 28.77 during Silverwood’s time as coach, but it has now gone up to 36.12. The team has stuck to this playing style, which they feel comfortable with, and this has brought them very good results. This consistent application of the Bazball Evolution is what makes it so effective.
India’s Challenge Against England: A Testing Summer Against Bazball Evolution
Shubman Gill and his Indian team will face a very tough challenge against this new English side driven by the Bazball Evolution. Apart from the clear difficulties of organizing their batting order and filling the big gaps left by the retired players (Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and potentially Ravichandran Ashwin, though his retirement date is not explicitly mentioned here), India has another important thing to worry about.
The Indian team has faced England’s aggressive playing style before. Back in 2022, in a single Test match, India failed to defend a large target of 378 runs against England’s fast-scoring approach. This previous experience is a warning sign.
Since 2022, India’s bowling department has had a specific problem: their “first-change” bowlers (bowlers who come on after the opening bowlers). These bowlers have struggled to stop the flow of runs, even on pitches that normally help bowlers. This weakness could be especially dangerous against the attacking Bazball Evolution style.
Let’s look at some numbers to compare. In countries like South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (often called SENA countries), India’s opening seamers (fast bowlers) averaged 26.05 between 2018 and 2021. Their change seamers also performed well, averaging an impressive 26.69. This shows that India’s pace attack was strong across different stages of the innings.
However, since 2022, the numbers have changed. India’s opening seamers still have a good average of 23.93 in SENA countries. But the change seamers have struggled, averaging 38.00 runs per wicket. This means they are giving away many more runs before taking a wicket. Their economy rate (runs given per over) has also gone up from 3.24 to 3.96.
This problem with “change seamers” is a big concern for India. They even had to use Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is not a full-time bowler, as a bowling option during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 series. Shubman Gill and the Indian team management will have to make sure that their bowlers, especially the ones bowling after the initial spell, bowl very accurately and don’t give away easy runs. This is crucial to counter the relentless scoring rate of the Bazball Evolution.
How India manages to deal with these factors – restructuring their batting, improving their change bowlers, and handling the attacking mindset of Bazball – will define their summer. It will be a true test of their skill and mental strength against the continued Bazball Evolution.
A Historic Opportunity Against the Bazball Evolution
The upcoming Test series is a huge opportunity for Shubman Gill and his team. India last won a Test series on English soil way back in 2007, under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. If Shubman Gill, in his very first assignment as India’s Test captain, manages to win this series against a transformed England side playing with the Bazball Evolution mindset, it would be a truly historic achievement in Indian cricket.
This series is not just about winning matches; it’s about setting the tone for India’s new era of Test cricket. The Bazball Evolution has made Test cricket more exciting and unpredictable, and India will need to be at their absolute best to counter it. All eyes will be on this young Indian team as they face the challenge of an unpredictable English summer and the aggressive philosophy of Bazball Evolution.
For more updates, follow Cricmind on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube.
