The England cricket team is currently in India where it is playing the 5-match test series and as of now, the series is leveled at 1-1. Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have taken over as the head coach and the captain of the England team, respectively, they have started playing aggressive brand of cricket which they have named as Bazball.
The England cricket team has been quite successful since they have adopted the Bazball approach but the cricket experts had doubts over the fact whether this approach will be successful in India or not because India is known for turning tracks and not for pace-supporting tracks.
The England cricket team managed to silence its critics by winning the first test match which was played at Hyderabad but the critics started slamming their Bazball approach once again after India made a comeback in the second test match at Vizag. However, the English cricketers have no doubt in their minds and they will continue sticking to their approach of playing aggressive brand of cricket.
Currently, the third test match is being played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and on the eve of the third test match, the Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja who is coming back in the team after missing the second test match due to injury addressed a press conference in which he talked about England’s approach and how to deal with it.
He said that it is not difficult to defeat England and though they play cricket in a different manner which is more attacking, it is all about getting used to it and making strategies as per their approach.
When he was asked about his fitness, he said that in a day or two, his body will get back in rhythm. Talking about the debut of Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel in the third test match, Jadeja said that these youngsters have been playing First Class cricket on a regular basis and they are completely ready for the big day which was slated to come at one point of time and the good thing for them is that they will make their debut on home soil.
The Indian senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is just one step away from a big achievement as he needs just one wicket to complete his 500 test wickets. Talking about it, Ravindra Jadeja said that he is very excited for Ashwin. He added that he thought Ashwin would touch the 500-wicket mark in the first test but destiny had other plans and now he will do it in Rajkot.
As far as the match is concerned, India has scored 326/5 on the first day of the third test match and the skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front as he scored 131 runs for which he played 196 balls and his innings included 14 fours & 3 sixes. Debutant Sarfaraz Khan also played a superb knock of 62 runs and at the end of the day 1, Ravindra Jadeja (110 runs not out, 212 balls, 9 fours 2 sixes) and Kuldeep Yadav (1 run not out) were at the crease.
Let’s see how much India scores in the first innings! Will they cross the 500-run mark? What do you think?