England have suffered one of the greatest defeats in Test history after India crushed them in the third Test in Rajkot by 434 runs. The visiting batters had no answers against Indian bowlers while chasing a daunting target of 557.
Joe Root, England’s batting mainstay in red-ball format, has been struggling to get runs in the series and former Australia captain Ian Chappell feels he is under pressure due to Bazball school of batting.
“Root had a bloody fine record playing normally, and he was a quick scorer playing normally,” Chappell told ‘Wide World of Sports’, describing Bazball as “bullshit”.
In six innings, Root only scored 77 runs at an average of 12.83. Interestingly, Rehan Ahmed, who bats at No.8, has scored 76 runs in three Tests so far.
The veteran batter criticised Root’s playing style and his urge to play ‘premeditated shots’ that cost him in the series.
“I don’t see why he’s trying to change things drastically, and I’ve never believed you should play premeditated shots,” Chappell added.
Root, who has over 11,000 Tests runs, copped up a lot of criticism for his dismissal in England’s first innings in the third Test, as he attempted to reverse sweep Jasprit Bumrah but only ended up edging to slip.
His dismissal led to a batting collapse. England were 224/2 when Root got out. The tourists then lost eight wickets for 95 runs to be bowled out for 319, handing India a 126-run first-innings lead.
England eventually lost the Test by a mammoth 434 runs, their largest defeat in terms of runs since 1934.
Chapell argued that while a top-order batter must look to score aggressively, the players must adjust according to the match situation.