Former India off-spinner R Ashwin has urged India to play "defensive and negative" cricket to counter Bazball ahead of the second match of the five-match series at Edgbaston.
At Headingley in the series opener, India suffered a defeat despite five of their batters scoring centuries. Only once before has a team lost a Test after registering four hundreds: Australia against England in Melbourne (1928). England's 371-run chase now stands as their second-highest successful pursuit in Test history.
England needed 350 runs in the fourth innings to seal the match, and they did it comfortably in 82 overs. India’s demoralising defeat stemmed from a late batting collapse and, more critically, an overreliance on Jasprit Bumrah, as the other bowlers appeared lacklustre for most of the match.
8 matches, 1 draw and 7 defeats.
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On his Hindi YouTube channel Ashwin Ki Baat, Ashwin dissected India's bowling performance, highlighting where they went wrong and how they could have adopted a more defensive game plan to challenge England's batters.
"It’s not about how many overs Jasprit Bumrah will bowl," Ashwin said. "It’s about how we keep the pressure on if Bumrah isn’t bowling. So this game is very straightforward, 'We will play Bumrah carefully and then Bazball everyone else'. That is pretty much what England will do.
"So, as a bowling unit, we should make strategies to play some defensive, negative cricket. The kind of wickets England are making, we should play negative, defensive cricket and ask our bowlers to contain them more."
Ashwin: Let England batters get out by lap sweeps
Ashwin recalled a Test match in Nagpur against Australia in 2008. With India leading the series 1-0 going into the final match, captain MS Dhoni adapted tactically to the situation.
"One such instance was the Mohali Test [Nagpur Test in 2008] when Australia needed to chase around 380 on the last day to level the series, and what did MS Dhoni do? He asked Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan to bowl at the 11th and 12th stump, keeping all the fielders on the off side.
Needing to defend 382 on the final day, India bowled Australia out for 209, preserving their series lead.
Ashwin suggested Gill’s India to follow a similar tactic:
"I am telling, let’s keep the fielders on one side, keep fine leg as well, let the England batters get out by lap sweeps. Just contain them a bit when Bumrah isn’t bowling, even if it looks defensive, even when the commentators are going to say 'that’s defensive cricket'. It doesn’t matter. Delay their batting time and run-scoring, and wickets will fall.
"The whole point of 'going for the wickets', be it Test cricket or T20 cricket, is all a lie. Pressure gives you wickets. When a bowler keeps a batter at one end for 10 balls and then delivers a good ball, that’s what we call rhythm. You have to put the batters under pressure without giving runs, bottling him up. Testing his technique inside out. So if India want to win the second Test, play Bumrah, even Kuldeep Yadav and make sure the rest of the bowlers are bottling one end up."
The second match of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy begins on Wednesday (July 2). While England have retained their unchanged XI, India are yet to confirm Jasprit Bumrah's availability.
Also read: How many Tests has Jasprit Bumrah missed since his debut?
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