"Smartness in me believes...": Zaheer Khan and Michael Vaughan slam England's Bazball approach

England suffered its second successive defeat in the T20I against India played at Chennai. While the first T20I between the two sides was a one-sided one, England were able to come a lot closer this time but failed to finish off the game.

One of the reasons for England's defeat turned out to be their ultra-aggressive approach which has become the signature of their head coach Brendon McCullum. Recently, former cricketers Zaheer Khan and Michael Vaughan discussed England's Bazball approach that was evident in this match.

Both the cricket experts felt that Jos Buttler and his team would have played more sensibly which could have allowed them to score 185 on this pitch. England were in a good state in this match but tried to play in an over-aggressive fashion only to lose wickets at regular intervals.

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"England's thinktank will have to think hard" - Zaheer Khan

During a discussion on Cricbuzz, Zaheer Khan claimed that England are losing wickets in an attempt to score quick runs. He elaborated on how the batters can score quick runs in the end if they aim to preserve wickets for the death overs.

"England wanting to play that aggressive dominating kind of cricket (but) in the process, they are losing wickets. So, 165, if you look at the score, it's fine, anything can happen. In this kind of total, you're always in the game. Bowlers will have to bail the batters out," Zaheer Khan said.

"But if you look in the micro-analysis, there are situations when a batter is sitting at 6 and 4 and then again going for a big shot losing the wicket. If you have two set batters batting at the end of an innings, maybe three-four overs, it's a different ball game," he explained.

Zaheer Khan believes that a difference of 20 runs is a big one in T20 cricket and asked the visitors to be a little smart in their approach. According to him, they can be even more lethal if they become adaptable according to different situations.

"You're talking about difference of 20 runs. Now, 165 and 185 - there is a huge difference in this format. That's something that England's thinktank will have to think hard to strike that right balance," the former India fast bowler reckoned.

"If you're going to be aggressive yet understanding those situations where you're going to be little smart, maybe change a gear, go down a little, adapt and then give importance to two set batters who are in for a longer time. It's something which can add to the approach even more," Zaheer Khan added.

Will #BazBall yield positive returns for #England in #Rajkot?@MichaelVaughan & @ImZaheer analyse, on #CricbuzzLive#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/wy67lEYIBu

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) January 28, 2025

"Brendon McCullum wants his players to be ultra-aggressive" - Michael Vaughan

Michael Vaughan too echoed Zaheer Khan's sentiments and felt that England should have looked to play more sensibly. Vaughan reckons that England are looking to play in an ultra-aggressive way under the coach Brendon McCullum but the bowlers are too smart to outfox them.

"They've shown some good signs, some good striking. I just think that Baz McCullum's approach, he's very clear for all the formats. He wants his players to go and be ultra-aggressive all the time. That becomes comes a huge amount of risk. Could England have gone to 185 playing a little bit more sensible? Michael Vaughan argued.

"I just think Brendon McCullum is trying to install into this England side very early in a white-ball coaching is that he wants ultra-aggression and it might end up with the team being 20 below par or 30 below par for the first few games that he is in charge," Michael Vaughan noted.

"The smartness in me believes that in white-ball cricket now, there are a lot of skilful bowlers and if you think that you can just whack it all the time and hit the sixes, it pretty much creates all the difference," he added.

England suffer due to ultra-aggressive approach

England kept on losing wickets at regular intervals in the second T20I at Chennai but didn't come back from their ultra-aggressive approach. The batters kept on playing their shots and took risks.

Skipper Jos Buttler was dismissed after his attempted shot towards the leg side. Meanwhile, the debutant Jamie Smith launched Abhishek Sharma for a six and a four in his first two balls. However, he attempted another attacking shot in the last ball and holed out to long off.