The five-match Test series against India at home will be a massive test for England's 'Bazball' brand of cricket under skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
While the rescheduled Edgbaston Test in 2022 gave India their first experience of England's newly found aggressive, proactive style of Test cricket, the question remains if they can sustain it for a prolonged period against an Indian bowling attack spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, who has returned to top form after a long injury layoff,
The 2022 Edgbaston win against India and a hard-earned draw with Australia in the Ashes back in 2023 proved that the Bazball approach was here to stay.
What followed were some resounding victories and disheartening losses.
Despite some failures away from home, England has been excellent in their backyard under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, winning 15 out of their 20 Tests while losing just four (two against Australia, one each against Sri Lanka and South Africa) and drawing just one.
During this period, England have enjoyed a win percentage of 75 percent. This is the second-highest among all teams, with only South Africa having a better record with 87.5 win percentage, having won seven out of eight home Tests since June 2022.
The batting average of England's top seven at home under Stokes and McCullum is 43.86, which is the second-highest, just behind Sri Lanka's 44.39.
Also, the strike rate of 73.90 is miles ahead of every other team in the world, with India being distant rivals with a 60.88 strike rate.
England's Bazball era has seen players live, breathe and swear by their new style of cricket. The entire team, from openers to tailenders, tonk sixes at will and are capable of producing impactful knocks even when the conditions are tough.
Among the players in the current scheme of things, Joe Root (1,783 runs in 33 innings at an average of 63.67 and a strike rate of 70.81), Ollie Pope (1,352 runs in 29 innings at an average of 48.28 and a strike rate of 76.16), Zak Crawley (1,045 runs in 29 innings at an average of 38.70 and a strike rate of 77.29), Ben Duckett (1,007 runs in 26 Tests at an average of 47.95 and a strike rate of 88.87) and Stokes (974 runs in 25 innings at an average of 42.34 and a strike rate of 71.04) have displayed excellent consistency and a high tempo totally unheard of in Test cricket.
These statistics testify to the fact that at home, England is indeed 'Bazballing' in style.
Will India be able to bring an end to their brilliant home run? Only time will tell!
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