The five-match Test series against India at home is a massive test for England's 'Bazball' brand of cricket under skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
While the rescheduled Edgbaston Test against the Asian giants in 2022—resulting in a 2-2 draw—gave India their first experience of England's newfound fearlessness and freedom, the question remains: can they sustain it for a prolonged period against an Indian side featuring a peak Jasprit Bumrah?
The 2022 Edgbaston win against India and a well-fought draw against Australia in the 2023 Ashes proved that the Stokes-McCullum mantra of positive, attacking, and result-oriented cricket is here to stay. What followed were some promising wins and disheartening lows, both home and away. Despite some failures abroad, England has been excellent at home under the Stokes-McCullum regime, winning 15 out of their 20 Tests, losing four (two against Australia, one each against Sri Lanka and South Africa), and drawing just one.
Under Stokes and McCullum, England has enjoyed a win percentage of 75 per cent. This is the second-highest among all teams worldwide, with only South Africa having a better statistic—an 87.5 percent win rate—having won seven out of eight home Tests since June 2022, the month in which England began their new era under this dynamic duo with a series against New Zealand.
The batting average of England's top seven at home under Stokes and McCullum is 43.86, the second-highest, just behind Sri Lanka’s 44.39. Moreover, their strike rate of 73.90 is miles ahead of every other team in the world, with India a distant second at 60.88.
England's Bazball era has seen players live, breathe, and swear by their new style of cricket. The entire team—from openers to even the tailenders—can effortlessly tonk sixes and are capable of stringing together something decent even on their worst day.
Among the players in the current scheme of things, Joe Root (1,783 runs in 20 Tests and 33 innings at an average of 63.67, with a strike rate of 70.81, seven centuries and seven fifties), number three Ollie Pope (1,352 runs in 17 Tests and 29 innings at an average of 48.28, with a strike rate of 76.16, five centuries and five fifties), Zak Crawley (1,045 runs in 17 Tests and 29 innings at an average of 38.70, with a strike rate of 77.29, two centuries and five fifties), Ben Duckett (1,007 runs in 13 Tests and 26 innings at an average of 47.95, strike rate of 88.87, with two centuries and five fifties), and Stokes himself (974 runs in 17 Tests and 25 innings at an average of 42.34, strike rate of 71.04, with two centuries and seven fifties) have all displayed consistency and a tempo befitting an ODI cricketer—only, they’re doing it in Test cricket.
These statistics prove that, at home, England is indeed 'Bazballing' in style. Will India bring an end to their brilliant home run with a series win for the ages?
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