England cricket team has totally changed in terms of form and playing style after Ben Stokes’ captaincy and Brendum McCullum’s coaching the team has dramatically changed the way they play red ball cricket. The win has once again highlighted England’s ultra-aggressive approach, famously known as ‘Bazball’.
Former England cricketer David Lloyd stated that Team India has the potential to play Test cricket like Ben Stokes-led England team. The veteran also feels that star Indian batter Virat Kohli has such a style. Notably, under Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, England have changed the way of playing Test cricket.
“It is not totally new, of course. The Australian team of the 90s were very positive and the great West Indian sides were full of exhilarating stroke-makers. I reckon a team capable of this style now is India. They have all the tools. There has been a suspicion that Indian batters are stats driven but Virat Kohli is one who could drive this,” Lloyd wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
History books were written in First Test
England recorded a sensational win on Monday on the most batting-friendly pitch as they beat Pakistan by 74 runs in the opening match of the series. It was a bold move on Sunday evening when they declared the second innings with four sessions to go with the sheer aim to pick all 10 wickets and force a result. And they did it, in the nick of time in Rawalpindi.
The Test match saw 1768 runs getting scored. England smashed 657 runs in the first innings, while the Pakistan side scored 579. The three lions then went on to smash 264 runs in the second innings at a run rate of over 7, while Pakistan managed to score 268 in their chase. This saw the first Test between these two sides becoming the match with the most runs scored in a Test match where a result has come. Before this, Australia and England had scored record 1753 runs in a match in 1921.
The match is also the only contest where all four openers have scored hundreds in the first innings. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett smashed 122 and 107 runs, respectively, while Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique hit 121 and 114, respectively.
