Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma has responded to England's Ben Duckett's comments and the concept of ‘Bazball' before the final Test of the ICC World Test Championship series against England in Dharamsala.
Rohit expressed his ambiguity over the term ‘Bazball', a strategy associated with England's aggressive cricketing approach under coach Brendon McCullum.
In a press conference, Rohit mentioned, “I honestly don't know what [Bazball] means… I have not seen any wild swinging from anyone, so I don't know exactly what this term means.” He acknowledged England's improved performance since their last tour but remained puzzled over the coined term.
Rohit Sharma responds to Ben Duckett
Addressing Duckett's remarks on the aggressive playstyle of opposition players, Rohit humorously reminded him of Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's natural game, suggesting Duckett might not have noticed Pant's aggressive batting style.
“There was a guy called Rishabh Pant in our team, probably Ben Duckett hasn’t seen him play,” Rohit laughed off Duckett's comments.
Duckett had claimed after Yashasvi Jaiswal's aggressive knocks that England should get a bit of credit for the way some of India's batters were playing, inviting huge criticism from several current and former cricketers.
“The comment on Jaiswal that he has learned from us, I am going to touch on that. He has not learned from you, he has learned from his upbringing and all the hard yards he has put in while growing up, he has learned from the IPL. If anything, I would look at him and learn from him,” former England captain Nasser Hussain told on the Sky Sports podcast in response to Duckett's comments.
Rohit's response further underlined that England were certainly not the first to adopt an aggressive approach in the longest format of the game.
Latest visuals of Rishabh Pant Batting at Banglore .#pant #ViratKohli #RohitSharma #rishabhpant pic.twitter.com/X6z54xMibD
— Rishabh pant (@rishabh_pant_7) March 4, 2024
Regarding the team composition for the upcoming Dharamsala Test, Rohit hinted at the possibility of including a third pacer depending on the weather conditions, though the final decision remains pending. He recalled the varied play of seamers and spinners in the 2017 Test match against Australia at the same venue but remained non-committal about the current match's lineup.
“Certainly. Why shouldn't [a third seamer] come in?,” Rohit asked.
“If we feel the weather is going to be like this, there is a good chance. We've not yet completely decided on it, but there is a good chance [to play a third seamer].”
England has already announced their playing XI for the Dharamsala Test, making one change from their lineup in the Ranchi Test. The match is set to begin on Thursday, 7 March, marking the series' concluding encounter.
