Rohit Sharma-led Indian men’s cricket team players produced a super show with the bat in the second Test of the recently concluded two-match series against Bangladesh in Kanpur last week and went on to win the match, two days of which were completely washed out due to rain and wet outfield. India’s aggressive batting approach in the second Test earned massive praise for Rohit Sharma & Co. from all corners of the world, but few former greats and experts of the game credited England for it by mentioning Bazball as inspiration behind India’s aggressive intent.
In his latest column for The Hindu, Gavaskar, who was the first batter in Test cricket’s history to score 10,000 runs, took a savage dig at former those experts without mentioning anyone’s name and said that old powers want credit for India’s approach. “Not surprisingly, the Indian approach drew reactions from the old powers, who, as usual, wanted to take credit for it. That’s how certain parts of the world work in everyday life, too—taking credit where none is really due,” Gavaskar wrote.
“Sadly, while the batting was thrilling and refreshing, the names given to the approach were the same old, same old. Just as any scandal is now called this-gate or that-gate after the Watergate scandal over 50 years ago in the United States of America, this Indian batting approach was labelled this-ball and that-ball after the term “Bazball” was coined for the England team’s batting attitude. It was called thi.
