England’s Zak Crawley performs a shot throughout the Ashes Check. Crawley mentioned England’s upcoming tour to India in January-March 2024 presents them with an ‘wonderful alternative’ to showcase ‘Bazball’ however adapting to circumstances would be the key.
| Picture Credit score: AP
The swashbuckling opener Zak Crawley mentioned England’s upcoming tour to India in January-March 2024 presents them with an ‘wonderful alternative’ to showcase ‘Bazball’ however adapting to circumstances would be the key.
India will host England in a five-match Check sequence subsequent yr, and talks are already on about whether or not the latter would be capable of comply with their aggressive model of cricket on Indian pitches.
The sequence, for the Anthony de Mello Trophy, will get underway in Hyderabad with the primary Check scheduled from January 25-29, the second Check is at Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), the third at Rajkot (February 15-19), the fourth at Ranchi (February 23-27) and the fifth and ultimate Check at Dharamsala (March 7-11).
“I do not actually know a lot about their grounds,” Crawley was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo after the conclusion of the Ashes sequence in opposition to Australia.
Among the many 5 venues, the final time Hyderabad and Rajkot hosted a Check was in 2018, whereas Ranchi and Visakhapatnam final performed hosts in 2019.
The circumstances may very well be new and difficult for India at Dharamsala too, because the venue has hosted just one Check previously — in opposition to Australia in 2017.
“Typically in India it seams and swings a bit — and so they’ve obtained unbelievable seamers — so hopefully there are a few pitches there which might be like that as effectively, that can swimsuit us a bit extra,” he mentioned.
With the World Cup 2023 being the largest cricket draw within the second half of this yr, England’s Check cricketers will get an prolonged break earlier than their subsequent task in India.
India will restart their long-form assignments in opposition to South Africa in December with the Boxing Day Check. “I am unable to bear in mind having six months off (between Assessments) earlier than,” Crawley mentioned.
Crawley made 480 runs with 100 and two fifties at a mean of 53.33 within the Ashes and his strike-rate was a shocking 88.72.
In reality, he was the very best run-getter for England within the sequence, and second highest total behind Australia’s Usman Khawaja.
Now, he needed to take Bazball to India.
“I will tick off a little bit of T20 and hopefully a little bit of white-ball stuff someplace, however then (getting) again into it in India can be an incredible alternative for our staff to see how we go in these circumstances,” he mentioned.
“But when it is spinning…I really feel like we play spin rather well as effectively. We’ll simply must adapt, see what we get. However they’re fairly unknown grounds — I do not know if they are going to be raggers like Ahmedabad and Chennai, the place we had been final time,” he added.
England, who’s having a profitable run with the Bazball method, final gained a Check sequence in India in 2011-12 and since then have just one win to point out from subsequent excursions in 2016-17 and 2020-21.
In February 2021, Joe Root-powered England handed India a 227-run defeat in Chennai on a pitch that didn’t swimsuit the house staff bowlers, however the hosts then got here firing again within the remaining three Assessments to take the sequence 3-1.