Bazball or whatever, Tests are about playing to situations: Kumble

Anil Kumble

Former India captain and ex-head coach Anil Kumble has urged England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum to take a hard look at themselves after suffering a series loss against India, adding that Test cricket is about playing according to situations.

India beat England by five wickets in Ranchi on Monday to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the 5-Test series, which marked India's 17th consecutive Test series win at home (the most by any country). This is the first Test series loss for England since McCullum took over the head coaching role.

While giving his take on whether Bazball did not serve England well in the series, Kumble highlighted that playing in India and beating India here was never going to be easy.

"The challenge when England came here was obvious. Bazball or whatever ball you want to call it, playing in India and beating India here was never going to be easy. India have never lost a series at home in the last decade. They [England] knew that they had to be different but, their bowling attack wasn't something that they believed would be able to penetrate India's batting line-up," Kumble said on Jio Cinema.

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"England's senior batters including Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, other than the Ranchi Test, didn't contribute consistently. There were some key moments that they grabbed on a couple of occasions but other key moments they let go. It's all nice to say that ‘this is the way I bat', but you can't bat like that all the time. You have to hold back.

"In Test match cricket, that's what it is. It's about situations and that's what Root did in this [Ranchi] match. No wonder he was successful, something that England will have to discuss and look at," he added.

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