‘Bazball’ all the way!

Six letters, that's all. The term is ‘bazball'. England's flamboyant style of play may be wildly at odds with the genteel surroundings of Test cricket, but its revolution is no gimmick. On Sunday in the abnormally-dry Hyderabad pitch, the strategy notched up another triumph.

The English made mincemeat of a fourth-innings run chase that had seemed out of reach for India. Having dominated the first three days, India's chase of 231 went south once Tom Hartley spun his magic into the top order, having them surrender at 202 in the last over of the day. Notably, this is India's fourth defeat in Tests at home in 11 years and first-ever in Hyderabad (precisely, across two venues in the city).

After skipper Ben Stokes had blazed his way to a defiant 88-ball-70 to round out an attacking innings, England briefly faltered, losing wickets one by one. But that merely brought Ollie Pope and later Hartley to work together - two Englishmen enjoying overwhelming purple patches. While one finessed a slick century, the other weaved spin magic to outfox the gritty Indians.

"I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings. You know, I think in our first innings, when conditions were pretty good to bat in on day two, I thought in the kinds of situations we got ourselves into, some good starts and we didn't really capitalise," Indian head coach Rahul Dravid said in the post-match press conference.

"We didn't get a hundred, you know, we didn't get somebody getting a really big hundred for us. So, in some ways, in India, I just felt we left those 70, 80 runs back in the hut in the first innings. Second innings is always going to be challenging. It's one of those things that, you know, it's tough. It's not easy to chase 230 or it's not done very often," he added.

Surreal to think that, four years ago in the same Anthony de Mello Trophy, it did not take much to write them off after an embarrassing series defeat in India. Under coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes, a staggering turnaround in the English dugout has taken place, perhaps in a manner that has so often come to ridicule Test cricket's prevailing wisdom.

"Since I've taken the captaincy on, we've had a lot of fantastic moments as a team. We've had a lot of great victories. We've been involved in some amazing games. But I think where we are and who we're playing against, this victory is definitely our greatest triumph since I've been captain," said Stokes in the post-match press meet.

"I was willing to give him the longer spell regardless of what had happened (in the first innings) because I knew I was going to have to turn back to him at some point throughout this Test match. Whether or not that was the reason to say he got seven wickets and won us the game this innings, who knows? But that was the thought process behind it and giving the people we select complete backing and not going back on the words that we speak. I'm a great observer of the game. I learned a lot from our first innings in the field. I watched a lot of how the Indian spinners operate in the field and the fields that Rohit (Sharma) set."

Fourth-innings run chases are, by nature, always meant to favour bowlers, but the English have now successfully chased scores of more than 250 on multiple occasions with much ease. Sure, there could be times when ‘bazball' won't live up to its expectations, especially on grounds that change every so often. But for now, let England relish their success away from home. The likes of Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma will undoubtedly have taken note.

(With quotes from PTI)