‘Only time will tell’ – England skipper Ben Stokes speaks about their Bazball approach in India next year

England came back from 0-2 to level the Ashes 2023 series at 2-2 against Australia. After losing the first two games in Lords and Birmingham, Ben Stokes and company came a long way to winning the series. After the first two games, their bazball approach was brutally criticised, but Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum stuck with it and won two out of the remaining three games.

England drew the series after beating Australia by 49 runs in the fifth Test at The Oval in London on Monday. However, after the match, Stokes was asked about his bazball approach and how it would work in India. Speaking about it, Stokes did not hesitate to answer the question with a prediction. He said, “I remember when we beat New Zealand 3-0, the chatter was that we couldn’t do it against South Africa, we couldn’t do it against Pakistan, and we couldn’t do it against Australia. So who knows if we can do it against India? Only time will tell.”

Notably, England will tour India for a five-match Test series in January–February 2024. Recently, the Indian Cricket Board announced the fixtures for the much-awaited series. According to the board, India will host England at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad for the first Test. The remaining four matches will be played at Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamshala.

“I feel really good”, says England skipper Ben Stokes after beating Australia in the 5th Test.

After beating World Test Champion Australia in the fifth game, England skipper Ben Stokes said that the scoreline of 2-2 was a reflection of how the series went. “Feel really good. 2-2 is a fair reflection at the end of the series. Australia, WTC champions, absolute quality team I don’t think many teams would’ve been able to respond like we did after being 2-0 down”, said Stokes.

“I am very proud of the entire team and the effort they put in. Having played a lot of cricket here, you know what it’s like in the 4th inning. Australia played really well yesterday, but turning up here and knowing that you still need 250 runs is really tough. The wickets came in clusters like they usually do”, he further added.