The brilliance of England's approach lies in its ability to remove the traditional consequences of dismissal from the equation.
Joe Root is outside the crease. He arrived nine balls ago. England have reduced theу target by 154 runs, which is their highest target in the Bazball era, by achieving this in just under 31 overs, with 87 runs scored on the fourth morning. One of the three wickets lost belongs to the nightwatchman, who hit five boundaries.
Root is England's second most prolific Test batter. At the start of the Test, he had scored more runs than the entire Indian XI. In the first innings, he surpassed 1000 Test runs in India. Root's body of work is built on traditionally sound Test-match craft. In another era, it would be natural to expect a batter of his pedigree to bed down and take the chase deep on a pitch still comfortable for batting.
However, this is not the way things are done these days, and certainly not by Root, who has embraced the new mode with the adroitness of a late-life convert. In the last nine balls, he has scored 16 runs. The first ball, bowled by R Ashwin, was reverse-swept for four. On the third delivery, Root attempted another reverse sweep, which resulted in a fortuitous four off the glove. The seventh ball was hit for a six over long-off. Currently, he is advancing down the pitch, aiming for the unguarded leg-side fence.
Ashwin is bowling round the wicket. The ball has been pushed wide, and it's turning away. Root is deceived in the flight, but he is committed to the shot that bailing out is not an option. He finishs with a wild flail of his bat over his shoulder, pointing towards square leg, head tilted towards the off side, and with his eyes shut. The ball has been sliced towards backward point in a horror shot, causing a fleeting expression of horror on Root's face.
While it may be tempting to suggest that this stroke embodies the essence of Bazball - where you hit many and miss a few - this would only be telling half the story. Although the reward that comes with the risk is a part of it, what truly enables this approach is the lack of recrimination for failure, which is where it's real genius lies. In a different era, this shot would have caused outrage among fans, and analysts would have focused on it as a catalyst for England's downfall.
The fact that none of this occurred demonstrates not only how England, under the guidance of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, have redefined their approach to Test batting, but also how significantly they have impacted the conversation surrounding the sport. England's batters have become so accustomed to dismissing their misadventures as part of the design that it barely registers as a setback. This demonstrates England's success in repositioning Test batting as an audacious and gallant pursuit of fast runs, regardless of the outcome.
This is a significant change to the nature of Test cricket. Batting in Test cricket is considered the most challenging of all sporting activities as every ball carries the risk of dismissal. Test batsmen aim to minimise risks while at the crease. Losing a wicket, especially that of a top-order batsman, can have a massive impact on the outcome of a Test match. This is in contrast to shorter formats of the game, where the limited number of overs makes batting resources appear more plentiful.
The freedom resulting from the removal or reduced impact of dismissals is evident in the variety of strokeplay in T20 cricket. Without the threat of losing the wicket, the batsman can focus on positioning and taking aim. Getting caught becomes a minor risk, while hitting on the up becomes a common option.
Good-length balls can be driven and balls within the line of the stumps can be hit square, but Test batting prioritises preservation. This gives bowlers larger margins in Test cricket. They can construct spells, formulate plans, set catchers in place, and string together sequences of balls, knowing that the construct and rhythms of Test cricket allow them the space to build towards dismissals. Batting involves continual risk assessment, but safety standards are much higher in Tests. This grants bowlers greater allowance for deviation from the perfect length or line, as batters typically wait for balls close enough to drive or short enough to cut or pull.
Root's ten-ball innings in Visakhapatnam may have appeared reckless at first, and Harry Brook's baseball-style hitting may give the impression of a complete disregard for the basic principles of batting, but England's new batting philosophy is focused on reorienting the mind.
By removing the fear of consequences and reprisals, the England management has not only unlocked scoring opportunities that always existed but were not always accessed, but they have also presented their opponents with a different challenge. Insouciant stroke players have existed throughout the history of the game, and Virender Sehwag is an example of a batter who achieved devastating success by treating every ball as a run-making opportunity. However, rarely has a team as a whole adopted this approach.
Zak Crawley has increased his average by almost eight runs during the Bazball era. He achieved this not by swinging wildly, but by pouncing more aggressively on scoring opportunities. Crawley has left Jasprit Bumrah more assuredly than anyone else in this series, and he has capitalized on marginal errors of length better than anyone else. He is the only top-order batter who has not been dismissed by Bumrah in the series so far. In the second Test, he hit eight boundaries off him, while the rest managed only nine.
Crawley has maximised driving opportunities while Duckett, his opening partner, has capitalised on the slightest offering of width to execute his most profitable shot, the cut. Despite being sidelined after four unimpressive Tests in 2016, which yielded him an average of 15.71, Duckett has since been rehabilitated as an enforcer by the current management and has scored over 1100 runs at nearly 50. Notably, his strike rate has increased from 57.89 to 90.06.
India finds itself in unfamiliar territory on multiple fronts.
Recently, they have been able to defeat teams on sharp turners, as they did with England in 2020-21. On traditional Indian wickets, such as those in this series, they have always had the batting power to overwhelm their opponents with runs, as they did with England in 2016-17. Despite scoring 400 and 477 in the first innings, England lost two Tests by large margins.
This time, providing spin-friendly pitches carried the risk of increasing the threat posed by the inexperienced England spin attack to the weakest Indian batting line-up in a home series in recent history. On the other hand, flat pitches can enhance England's ability to score quickly, while India's batting has not been able to decisively win matches so far.
India is facing a challenge that appears to contradict the basic principles of Test cricket: a group of batters who seem like kamikaze fighters, even though they are not, and a team that has relieved the pressure on itself by creating the impression that they are winning even when they are losing.
These factors have combined to produce an intriguing five-Test series between two flawed teams.