Sunil Gavaskar has credited Rohit Sharma entirely for India’s aggressive approach in their win in the Kanpur Test, in particular criticising those hastening to praise new head coach Gautam Gambhir for his impact.
Against Bangladesh at Kanpur, India converted a near-certain draw into a remarkable win, breaking a plethora of records en route. Despite coming out to bat in the 11th session of the Test match, India won with a session and a half to spare.
In his Sportstar column, former India captain Gavaskar credited the Indian team “for breathing life into a game that seemed destined to be dead and buried.” He wrote how captain Rohit Sharma, who “has led the revolution in batting approach since taking over as captain”, hit the first two balls he faced for sixes, “and the innings gained momentum at breakneck speed from thereon”.
Gavaskar added how “not surprisingly, the Indian approach drew reactions from the old powers who, as usual, wanted to take credit for it,” presumably referring to some parts of the cricket fraternity likening it to England’s ‘Bazball’ approach.
“Sadly, while the batting was thrilling and refreshing, the names given to the approach were the same old, same old,” wrote Gavaskar. “Just as any scandal is now called this-gate or that-gate after the Watergate scandal over 50 years ago in the United States of America, this Indian batting approach was labelled this-ball and that-ball after the term “Bazball” was coined for the England team’s batting attitude. It was called this because “Baz” is the nickname of their coach, Brendon McCullum from New Zealand, who batted exactly as his team is doing – throwing caution to the winds in an attempt to score runs.”
Gavaskar reminded that “as seen in India last year, this approach doesn’t work in Test matches and may surprise the opposition for a game or two at best” (England did lose 1-4 in India, but that was this year).
However, he was not keen on crediting Gautam Gambhir, the new Indian coach, for the same: “While one paper called the Indian batting ‘Bossball’ because the captain or ‘boss’ of the team, Rohit, had shown the way, some from the old powers referred to it as ‘Gamball’ after the Indian coach, Gautam Gambhir.
“While the England batting approach changed completely under the new regime of Ben Stokes and McCullum, we have seen over the last couple of years that Rohit has been batting like this and encouraging his team to do so as well. Gambhir has only been coaching for a couple of months, so attributing this approach to him is foot-licking of the highest quality. Gambhir himself hardly ever batted in this fashion like McCullum used to do. If any credit is due, it is solely to Rohit and nobody else.
“Instead of using the words this-ball or that-ball, I would suggest using the skipper’s first name, Rohit, and term it the ‘Gohit’ approach. Hopefully, brainier people will come up with a trendier name for this rather than the lazy option of calling it after ‘Bazball’.”
Gavaskar attributed the World Test Championship points system for India’s aggressive approach that day: “However refreshing and thrilling the Indian batting was in the Kanpur Test match, let’s face it: would they have batted in the same manner if there were no points on offer? The much-maligned ICC deserves every bit of applause for changing the perception towards every Test match by creating the World Test Championship.
“India knows they have tough games ahead, and thus they had to try and secure maximum points while playing in India. Bangladesh are done and dusted, and now it’s the Kiwis who will be in the firing line of Rohit and his boys. Will they overpower them as they did Bangladesh? We shall soon find out.”
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