Despite the rain and wet outfield washing out two days of action at the Green Park Stadium, India came out all guns blazing in their first innings with the bat by setting new records for the fastest 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 scores in the longer format, before declaring at 285\/9. They then chased down 95 in 17.2 to complete a blazing win and seal the series 2-0.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cAs seen in India last year, this approach doesn\u2019t work in Test matches and may surprise the opposition for a game or two at best. While one paper called the Indian batting \u201cBossball\u201d because the captain or \u201cboss\u201d of the team, Rohit, had shown the way, some from the old powers referred to it as \u201cGamball\u201d after the Indian coach, Gautam Gambhir.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cGambhir 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\u2019s first name, Rohit, and term it the \u201cGohit\u201d approach. Hopefully, brainier people will come up with a trendier name for this rather than the lazy option of calling it after \u201cBazball\u201d,\u201d wrote Gavaskar in his column for Sportstar on Monday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He also wondered if India had batted in the same manner when Test matches weren\u2019t worth World Test Championship points, with the top two teams from the current cycle to play the final at Lord\u2019s next year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThat day\u2019s batting set the game up for India to secure a win on the final day and earn the much-needed points required to be in the race for a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) finals in June next year.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWould this approach have been adopted if there were no points on offer and no qualification needed for the WTC final? Having lost two full days of play, with the team batting first still having seven wickets in hand, not many teams in the past would have even looked at a result and would have been content to play out the remaining two days for personal records and milestones.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSo, full marks to the ICC for creating the World Test Championship and thereby making every Test match, including a dead rubber, important for the points teams can accrue from them. Every Test match thus has context and has livened up the long format, with teams wanting a win and looking to make things happen by trying something new and innovative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cHowever refreshing and thrilling the Indian batting was in the Kanpur Test match, let\u2019s 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,\u201d elaborated Gavaskar.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSo, full marks to the ICC for creating the World Test Championship and thereby making every Test match, including a dead rubber, important for the points teams can accrue from them. Every Test match thus has context and has livened up the long format, with teams wanting a win and looking to make things happen by trying something new and innovative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Also Read: <\/b> Highest tax paying cricketers<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n