Bazball is not just about attacking cricket, it’s also about playing to their strengths and involves immaculate planning to negate the opposition’s strong points.

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes had performed it to perfection in the Ashes to draw level after being 0-2 down. England’s preparations for the current series were well documented in the manner Ollie Pope batted during his 196 in the second innings.

Pope swept and reverse swept to negate the Indian spinners’ advantage on a turning wicket to achieve huge success. It is a high-risk, high-reward shot which will be templated by visiting batters in the coming years.

It was not just about Pope who used it as a means of scoring runs, but Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett too employed the same tactics. To make it worse, Pope even used the reverse scoop over the wicketkeeper and the slips to great effect during the Test.

Pope will also have the Indian think-tank working overtime to counter this strategy.

“Yeah, we’ll have to counter that. I certainly haven’t seen it being done that consistently... But to be able to play it that consistently and that successfully without making that many mistakes, maybe one or the odd mistake here or there, I probably haven’t seen it for a long time,” Rahul Dravid admitted after the match.

“So yeah, and especially the reverse sweep... I think the sweep is something that we’ve seen people employ in the past. But to be able to play a reverse sweep that consistently and that successfully for that long... hats off and credit to him.”

Jadeja injury

Ravindra Jadeja is in a race against time to be fit for the second Test in Visakhapatnam, beginning February 2. The all-rounder injured his left hamstring while trying to escape from being run out by Ben Stokes.

He clutched on to it as he walked off the field.

Dravid wasn’t sure of the extent of the injury, but it’s understood that he will be assessed over the next few days before a call is taken.