Sunil Gavaskar takes a dig at England's "BazBall"

England is currently 0-2 down in Ashes 2023 series against Australia.

Despite England looking good to win the third Ashes 2023 Test against Australia being played at the Headingley ground in Leeds, former India opener Sunil Gavaskar brutally slammed the hosts’ ‘bazball’ playing attitude, saying that its success came against lesser quality bowling attacks.

After knocking the Australians out for 224 in the second innings at Headingley, England assumed control of the third Ashes Test. On the third day of the Test, which was heavily rained on, two sessions were completely wiped out.  

England staged a great recovery to dismiss six Australian wickets in just 90 runs. Without Travis Head’s counterattacking 77, the visitors may have been bowled out for much less.

Australia have a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series thanks to convincing victories at Edgbaston and Lord's, while England's 'Bazball' strategy has drawn harsh criticism from both cricket fans and ex-players.

England risked a collapse even in the Headingley Test as their overly aggressive strategy cost them. If captain Ben Stokes (80) had not displayed some resiliency and composure at the crease, the team might have been facing a series loss.

‘Bazball’ approach won't work for England in Ashes 2023: Sunil Gavaskar

England have attained significant success with their aggressive approach under the duo of captain Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, registering series wins over New Zealand, South Africa, and Pakistan over the past year.

Even though England is currently ahead in Leeds, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar thinks the hosts' "Bazball" strategy won't be successful in the Ashes.

“As for Bazball, forget it. It happened against lesser-quality bowling, but against a top-class Australian attack it’s back to good old grinding batting and not T20 shots. Test cricket is after all, Test cricket,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the newspaper ‘Mid-day’.

England's legendary former batter Geoffrey Boycott had also criticized the side's aggressive approach with the bat.

“They (England team) lost sight of the fact that the object is to win and then if you want to entertain then yes, by all means. But why can’t you win and entertain? When you get ahead of yourself – and that’s what England did – they stopped thinking. If you’re going to just entertain, they might as well be a circus. That’s it, go be a professional circus around the world,” Boycott had said before the Lord's Test, which England lost by 43 runs.