“India fears bazball so much that they needed to post a 600+ total for England to chase with 4 sessions left”

That’s what they said.

Cowardly. Defensive. Boring.
Because if you’re not playing into England’s chaos circus, then you’re scared right?

But is posting a practically unreachable total really a defensive strategy against this team?

Maybe not.

Bazball isn’t some ingenious cricketing revolution. It’s just adrenaline wrapped in some clever PR.

It thrives on chaos, feeds off desperation, and exploits panic. But what happens when you don’t give it any of that? No scoreboard pressure. No collapse to capitalise. No visible target to dance toward.

Just flat tracks. Dry heat. And a mountain of runs.

Bazball has a fatal flaw. Bury them under such a pile of runs that their pride itself takes them out. It’s that simple!

India’s strategy wasn’t born out of fear, it was born out of clarity. You don’t feed chaos to chaos. You starve it.

India declared at 600, not because they feared bazball, but because they knew it would chase itself into a corner.

And while India’s strategy was being broken apart on national television, Shubman Gill was being questioned for his decisions with almost everyone labeling him arrogant and overrated.

But the results should remind the cricketing fraternity that Gill isn’t a toddler out of kindergarten, he is the rightful captain of the Indian National Cricket Team.

There’s poetry to this story, really. Emily Dickinson famously described hope as a pure delicate bird with a selfless soul. Recently I came across a reply to Emily’s poem citing hope as a lowly sewer rat. Ugly, overlooked but will chew through steel pipes if that’s what it takes to survive.

Call it boring.
Call it safe.
Call it whatever desperate insult Michael Vaughan can tweet from his couch.

But here’s the truth – when your back is against the wall you won’t wish for a leader who does it in style rather someone who can chew their way through the dirt and mud to see you through.