From Ro-ball to Gamball, a lot many words sounding similar to Bazball, England’s famed batting approach under head coach Brendon McCullum, were coined in the wake of India’s ultra-aggressive batting performance in the Kanpur Test, where the hosts wrapped up the match in just over four sessions despite losing Day 2 and 3 to poor outfield conditions. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar wasn’t particularly a fan of it, who rather coined a fresh term and reckoned that captain Rohit Sharma should be solely credited for the batting revolution in Indian cricket rather than Gautam Gambhir.
Day 1 of the second Test match of the two-game series between the two Asian sides witnessed just 35 overs of action, with Bangladesh reduced to 107 for three by lunch, after which the final session was washed out. Despite little or no rain on the subsequent two days, poor drainage facility at the Green Park Stadium, one of India’s oldest cricket venues, saw India’s World Test Championship hopes hanging in the balance.
But India came all guns blazing as the weather cleared up on Day 4. Not only did India pick up the remaining seven wickets in quick time, they batted at a blitzkrieg pace to take a 52-run lead, and then folded Bangladesh for just 146 runs on the final morning. The hosts chased down the 95-run target in just 17.2 overs, for a loss of three wickets, to script a stunning win, which subsequently saw them take another step closer to making the WTC final.
Following the win, a few sections of the Indian cricket fraternity hailed Gambhir for the aggressive batting approach, but Gavaskar, in his column for Sportstar, lashed out at them and reckoned that Rohit should be credited for India’s new-look approach to international cricket.
“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,” he wrote.
The India batting legend further argued that Gambhir himself never batted in that fashion during his playing days, and hence, it would be unfair to use the word “Gamball.”
“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,” he added.
‘The word is Gohit’
Gavaskar, who was in awe of Rohit’s risk-free approach in the Kanpur Test, reckoned that India’s new batting style should be called “Gohit.”
“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”,” he wrote.
