"Don't Know What Bazball Means": Blunt Rohit As India Eye Series Win

Ahead of the fifth and final Test of the five-match series against England in Dharamsala, India captain Rohit Sharma said he wasn’t quite sure what “Bazball” meant. The hosts will take on visitors in the fifth and final match in Dharamshala, starting from Thursday. England named their playing XI for the Test with one change to their line-up from the Ranchi Test match. “I honestly don’t know what [Bazball] means, whether it is to go and strike, whether it is to go and defend and wait for the loose ball,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference.

While talking about the ball variations, Rohit said he is not sure what the term signifies as he hasn’t witnessed anyone exhibit crazy swinging.

“I have not seen any wild swinging from anyone, so I don’t know exactly what this term means,” he added.

“But, yeah, clearly they have played better cricket from what they played the last time they were here. And you got to give credit to two of their batters who got big hundreds there and played well. They applied their method to get some success and they got it. But other than that I don’t know what it means,” the India skipper said.

Meanwhile, the Indian skipper gave a witty reply to England opener Ben Duckett’s comment that Yashasvi Jaiswal started playing aggressively after getting influenced by Bazball.

Duckett’s remarks that England could take credit for the manner players from the opposition were playing aggressive cricket [after Jaiswal’s hundred] shocked the Indian captain.

“There was a guy called Rishabh Pant in our team, probably Ben Duckett hasn’t seen him play,” Rohit said.

England have faced three consecutive losses in the series, unable to capitalise on their early 1-0 advantage following a narrow victory in Hyderabad. The visitors had their chances, notably in Rajkot and Ranchi, but India came back strong on both occasions to win.

The fifth and final Test match will begin on March 7 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala and conclude on March 11, 2024.

India and England still have World Test Championship points to gain in Dharamsala, even though the series is decided. India is on top of the World Test Championship standings while England is eighth on the points table.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)