File photo of Virat Kohli© AFP
Will England’s ‘Bazball’ succeed in India? This is a question the entire cricketing universe is asking ahead of the 5-match series between the two countries. As India and England gear up for the red-ball assignment, many see Egland’s attacking approach as their biggest weapon against Indian spinners. Indian spinners tend to dominate in home conditions, no matter the team they are up against. But, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar thinks India have ‘Viratball’ to counter England’s ‘Bazball’ in the next assignment.
In a chat on Star Sports, Gavaskar was full of praise for Kohli, lauding his consistency in the longest format of the game. In 28 Test matches for India against England, Kohli has scored 1991 runs at an average of 42.36. His conversion rate when it comes to taking 50+ scores to triple-digit figures, is great.
“Yeah, conversion means having more hundreds than fifties. With Kohli, he has a similar amount of hundreds and fifties, that means he has a good conversion rate. The way he’s been batting, his movement looks good. With the form that he’s in, we have Viratball to counter Bazball,” said Gavaskar.
Speaking of England’s ‘Bazball’ approach, Gavaskar said he is keen to see if this style of play works against Indian spinners.
“England have adopted a new approach in Test cricket in the last 1-2 years. It’s an aggressive approach where batters look to attack. They just want to play attacking cricket no matter the situation. It’ll be interesting to see if this approach works against the spinners of India,” Gavaskar added.
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