“I don't understand what they mean”- Prithvi Shaw on England’s Bazball tactics

Prithvi Shaw talked about his own way of batting while speaking about the Bazball approach.

Young Indian opener Prithvi Shaw gave his thoughts on the England team’s aggressive batting approach in Test cricket, which has been dubbed ‘bazball’ after their coach and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.

England has found a new lease of life in Test cricket with this approach as their batters go after bowling from the go. This approach was first experimented against New Zealand last year and they whitewashed the Kiwis at home in the Test series. Then they defeated India in the rescheduled fifth Test in Edgbaston.

But the biggest victory came in Pakistan, where they played a Test series for the first time since 2005 and whitewashed the hosts for the first time in more than 70 years of their becoming a Test-playing nation.

The combination of Stokes and McCullum has made the world sit and take notice of their aggressive batting style.

I don’t understand what they mean when they say Bazball: Prithvi Shaw

During an interview with Cricbuzz, Delhi Capitals player Prithvi Shaw was asked about his views on Bazball. The right-handed batsman said he doesn’t understand the meaning of Bazball.

“I don’t understand what they mean when they say Bazball. I assume looking at Mitchell Marsh bat that he’s a proper Bazball cricketer. People will come out with new names”, the Mumbai-born player said.

“The way I play is that if I see the ball, I hit the ball. I don't know what people will call that. Whether they call it baseball, hockey or whatever they want to call it, at the end of day, woh apna cricket hai (that's our sport - cricket),” he added.

Prithvi Shaw was recently called up in the Indian team for the three-T20I series against New Zealand at home, which was the first time since he played for India in 2021 on a tour of Sri Lanka. However, the batter couldn’t break into the Indian XI.

He was not named in the Indian squad for the West Indies tour and even for the Asian Games 2023 where many IPL performers have been given a chance to shine, under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad.