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The term ‘Bazball’ has been revolutionary for England cricket ever since former Kiwi cricketer Brendon McCullum took over as the coach and Ben Stokes took control of captaincy reins. England have now emulated their white-ball antics into Test cricket too, the timid approach for which England was once known has been turned into a gutsy one where they hold no punches. The first match played at Rawalpindi offered no assistance for the bowlers on a dull pitch which was deemed as a 'road' by pundits but Stokes-led beat the hosts Pakistan by 74 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Former Pakistani leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was not best pleased with Pakistan captain Babar Azam and PCB chief Ramiz Raja after Pakistan's loss to England in the series opener.
"Abhi hamari management aake baat karegi, Babar Azam baat karenge, PCB ke head baat karenge 'acchi cricket kheli England ne, hume unse seekhna chaiye. Toh seekho na. Kab seekhoge? Time Guzar jayega. (Now our management will talk, Babar Azam and PCB chief will say 'England played well, we should learn from them'. Then learn, when will you? It's already too late)," Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.
Kaneria, one of most prolific Pakistani spinners and the only one to take more than 250 Test wickets, made a crass comment on the inexperienced Pakistani bowling attack that could not extract reverse swing.
"They might blame Shaheen Afridi’s absence for the loss. If he’s not available then dusre achar bechne aaye thhe? (Others came to sell pickles?) Where is the planning and strategy, where is the reverse swing?” he said.
Ollie Robinson and James Anderson were among the wickets scalping four apiece and folding for 268 in the second innings. England's skipper Ben Stokes also was praised for his bold decision of declaration which was questioned at first. A pitch which was a minefield for bowlers and a bonanza of runs for the batters saw the Pakistani batters being floored by reverse swing. Kaneria said that Pakistan must learn from England and be intrepid in their approach.
"We only talk about the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Pura din wahi manjan chal raha hota hai (the same discussion continues the entire day). Pakistan were clueless. Babar Azam should learn from Ben Stokes’ captaincy. Coaches around the world should also learn from Brendon McCullum. Their team doesn’t fear loss, but ours does.
"Our management fears losses. They only say that the team has been doing good. We are the No. 1 team. How can the Asia Cup happen without us? etc., but we don’t check where our cricket is heading. We made the wicket which was called dead rubber in Rawalpindi," he added.
