India defeated England by 106 runs in the second test to level the five-match series at 1-1 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Former England player Geoffrey Boycott was not a happy man as he lashed out at the England coach and captain for their ‘Bazball’ approach.
Boycott criticised England saying that that there is no glory in failure, adding that they should have played according to the situation.
“Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are besotted with attack, attack, attack. It’s as if they say ‘if we can’t win, we will go down in glorious failure instead.’ But there is no glory in failure or defeat,” Boycott wrote in his column on The Telegraph.
“Bazball is great entertainment when it comes off. But once you believe in an ideal over substance, then you have lost the plot. Today England gave the match away. Bazball was a failure.”
Boycott also lashed out at Joe Root for being dismissed for just 10 runs.
“Scoring at five an over was entertaining but too many batsmen gave their wickets away after good starts. The best way to achieve a total of nearly 400 is by one of the batsmen scoring a big hundred. Looking to go after good bowlers and scoring quickly comes with risk. Bazball cost Joe Root his wicket. As soon as he came in, he was dancing down the pitch trying to hit it over the top and very soon swiped it up in the air. He only scored 16. England’s best technical batsman is normally a busy player who scores at a good rate, but trying to go after the bowling as soon as he comes in takes him out of his comfort zone,” Boycott wrote.
England had won the first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs. The visiting team has decided to go to Abu Dhabi to utilize the 10-day break between the second and third Tests.
The third test will be played in Rajkot from Feb. 15.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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