Won't steer away from Bazball approach, asserts Anderson

India batters, like they did in the first innings of the Hyderabad Test and then in the first innings of the second Test, gifted away their wickets on a platter through callous and confused batting.

Visakhapatnam: England pacer James Anderson averred India were ‘nervous’ when they resumed their batting in the second innings on Sunday morning before declaring that his side will go for the improbable 399-run target with their Bazball approach without worrying about failure.

India batters, like they did in the first innings of the Hyderabad Test and then in the first innings of the second Test here, gifted away their wickets on a platter through callous and confused batting. Although England will have to chase a record score on Indian soil to go 2-0 up, there would be jitters in the Indian camp considering the visitors’ daring batting style that has brought them astounding wins. 

“I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted. I think they didn’t know how many was enough. They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead. The chat last night from the coach was that if they get 600, we were going to go for it. It makes it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow,” said a confident Anderson at the end of day’s press conference. 

“I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That’s the way we play, and we saw that tonight with Rehan (Ahmed) going out and playing his shots. He wanted to get out there and chase those runs down. We have set our stall out, tomorrow will be no different, we will play the same way we have the last two years. Whether we win or lose, it’s not irrelevant because we are extremely competitive and want to win every game we play, but we want to play in a certain way. I think we will be doing that tomorrow.”

In the rescheduled fifth Test of the 2021 series that was played in Birmingham in July 2022, England chased down 378 runs to level the series 2-2 against India with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow slamming unbeaten centuries. That was in the immediacy of Brendon McCullum taking over as coach of England and installing the fearless Bazball batting style. 

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Anderson, returning to playing XI this game, was exceptional with the ball, bagging five wickets in total. The 41-year-old, still going strong, felt more than the wickets it’s his endurance that pleased him. “I’m obviously delighted with the five wickets but I think I’m more pleased with the fact I got through 35 overs in three days. I felt strong when I was doing it as well. All that work I was doing in the last few months has really paid off and that’s probably the most satisfying thing for me.”