Ravi Ashwin reveals the plan for Team India to contain England’s Bazball approach

Former Indian spinner and analyst Ravi Ashwin has stated that the Indian team should make some defensive strategies in order to contain the opposition batting line-up, which has taken up an aggressive Bazball approach. 

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Notably, despite India scoring five centuries in the Leeds Test, England batters chased down the 371-run target on the Day 5 surface to hand India a five-wicket defeat in the opening Test. India will enter the Birmingham Test, trailing the series by 0-1.

"It’s not about how many overs Jasprit Bumrah will bowl, it’s about how we keep the pressure on if Bumrah isn’t bowling. So this game is very straightforward, 'We will play Bumrah carefully and then Bazball everyone else'. That is pretty much what England will do,” Ashwin said on his Hindi YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat.

"So, as a bowling unit, we should make strategies to play some defensive, negative cricket. The kind of wickets England are making, we should play negative, defensive cricket and ask our bowlers to contain them more,” he added.

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Furthermore, Ashwin also went down the memory lane to recall a Test in Nagpur when Australia got bowled out for 209 runs in their chase of 382 on the final day, with Dhoni adapting to 11th and 12th stump bowling line.

"One such instance was the Mohali Test [Nagpur Test in 2008] when Australia needed to chase around 380 on the last day to level the series, and what did MS Dhoni do? He asked Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan to bowl at the 11th and 12th stump, keeping all the fielders on the off side,” Ashwin stated.

India will take on England in the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham, starting on Wednesday, July 2, aiming to level the series 1-1.

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