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In the just-concluded Ashes 2023 opening Test, displaying 'Bazball' approach Ben Stokes declared England's first innings at the score of 393/8 on Day 1 despite Joe Root's unbeaten 118. Till Australia's first innings, it looked hunky dory for England as they managed to skittle out hosts for 386 and took a seven-run lead. However, things started going awry as they could only pile 273 on the board in their second innings. With 281 to chase, Australia ended the Day 4's play reeling at 107/3. Day 5 didn't pan out as expected for the Pat Cummins-led side as wickets kept on tumbling till the scoreboard read 227/8. It was all upto the non-batters Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, who braved the odds and launched Australia's fightback with utmost grit and resilience. The duo stitched together a partnership of 55 off 72 balls for the ninth wicket which saw Australia getting past the victory line with two wickets to spare. While Cummins remained unbeaten on 44, Lyon was unscathed with crucial 16 as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the five-match encounter as England's aggressive strategy known as ‘Bazball’ certainly backfired.
Meanwhile, South African cricket legend AB De Villiers compared Brendon McCullum's ‘Bazball cricket’ to MS Dhoni's captaincy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
“I never looked at the Birmingham weather leading up to this Test match. The way England played now makes sense. Call it what you want, some say Bazz Ball, I just think it’s smart Cricket. The best teams are prepared to adapt and play situations in a way that’ll ultimately put them in a winning position more often than the rest, whether that’s by making bold declarations or playing reverse sweeps a lot, whatever it takes,” wrote De Villiers on Twitter after the close of Day 4's play.
“The only way to make it impactful is to have a complete buy in from every individual, no ego’s, no stats driven players, just a full on buy in to be the best team in the world. That’s how I see the England team play at the momentum. Also saw that with MSD and co,” he added.
Notably, MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) rocked Gujarat Titans (GT) to clinch the coveted IPL title in the sixteenth edition of the glitzy league.
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