Brendon McCullum to leave England coaching after India drubbing Bazball? Former Kiwi shakes up the cricketing world

England red-ball head coach Brendon McCullum is keen to apply the takeaways he had from his side’s recent tour of India where they were drubbed 4-1. After winning the 1st Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs, England went on to suffer back-to-back 4 defeats in Vizag, Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamshala. The last one would feel even more bitter as the visitors lost by an innings and 64 runs despite familiar – cold-chilly conditions.

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ regime met with its first series defeat since the era started in the summer of 2o22. England hadn’t lost any but drawn or won all of their series against Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. While their Bazball style of play worked well in making comebacks after going behind, in India they weren’t able to carry and build on the start they received in the 1st Test.

Brendon McCullum admits India outplayed Bazball and that’s the thing they need to change going forward

In his conversation with the English outlet The Telegraph, McCullum was clear that India came out on top in all departments on their way to outplaying Bazball. The former Kiwi captain knows other teams can take inspiration from Rohit Sharma’s side and that’s why he emphasized shaking things a little bit.

“India probably outplayed us at the style of cricket that we want to play and made us start to retreat a little bit so that’s something that we will have to change.” – Brendon McCullum told Telegraph.

Upon being asked to talk through the 4-1 series loss from a winning start, McCullum felt England got timid as the series proceeded and looked confused with their respective game plan. The 42-year-old stated that they cannot afford to let any sort of doubt come into their heads when they are on the field.

“If anything we got more timid as the series went on. It is something we need to address because other teams will put us under pressure as well and we can’t really allow that doubt to creep into our game. We need to have total conviction in what we are doing in those pressure situations.” – McCullum added.

What England will require the most is self-reflection and how they were scrutinized by the smart Indian bowling department. In most parts of the Test series, it’s the English batting that has suffered and India’s bowling that has prevailed in crunch situations.

Take Jasprit Bumrah’s spell from the 2nd Test for example or Ravichandran Ashwin’s masterclass in the 4th Test, Rohit Sharma was always ahead of England batters in terms of making things happen.

McCullum backs England to return bigger and better

Brendon McCullum further stated that his team should sink into the loss, retrospect, and just allow the dust and hurt to settle before they start working on their weaknesses.

“We will allow the dust and hurt to settle a bit and then use that to make changes we need to ensure we are a better version of what we have started out as. We will have some time to reflect and come back bigger, stronger, and more refined. – McCullum concluded.