Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has criticized the baseball approach of the Ben Stokes-led England cricket team after their eight-wicket defeat to Australia in the first Test of the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 in two days at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Ashwin has not only criticized the collapse of England’s batting but also questioned the entire idea that taking unnecessary risks is acceptable in modern Test cricket. The former Indian all-rounder has boldly claimed that their buzzball approach is slowly becoming detrimental to England.
Ravichandran Ashwin criticizes ‘careless’ England after Perth accident
Ravichandran Ashwin further explained that reckless-looking shots are being promoted as fearless cricket, and this mentality cost England dearly in the opening match of the Ashes 2025-26 against Australia, which they had worked hard to control in Perth. They had a very bad start on the first day and after losing five wickets in quick succession, they were out for only 172 runs and could score only 8 runs.
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But the English bowlers bowled brilliantly. He bowled out Australia for 132 runs and turned the match by taking a lead of 40 runs. At that stage, England just needed to settle their batsmen, regain the lead and give the bowlers some rest.
Is buzzball becoming a liability?
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “As a batting group, how careless can you be? Because on the first day, you were all out for 172, and you lost five wickets in the space of 12 or 15 or maybe 20 runs. After that, your bowling attack took back the initiative and gave you a 40-run lead. And your first job as a batting unit is to give your bowlers adequate rest.”
But instead of strengthening its position, England’s batting once again disintegrated. They reached 65 runs in the second innings with a lead of 105 runs for the loss of one wicket and looked to be in control. Suddenly everything went wrong due to the fall of wickets and they were out for just 164 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin sympathizes with England bowler
Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out that England’s bowlers might have expected a longer break after doing their job so well, but their batting collapse forced them to return to the field almost immediately to defend 204, which was always too short a target against Australia in Perth.
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“As Rahul (Dravid) bhai always says, rest your bowlers overnight and see how your bowlers respond. Today, they came in and cleaned up the last wicket. I’m sure the England bowlers will be looking to find their feet, and in no time, they are back on the park to defend 200, which is modest,” Ashwin said.
Australia and England ready for D/N Test at Gabba
After this Australia took complete command. Travis Head played a brilliant inning of 123 runs in 83 balls and won the match. Australia achieved the target with eight wickets in 28.2 overs. With this defeat, England now lags 0-1 in the five-match Test series.
Now the pressure is increasing on captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum regarding the day-night test against Australia starting from December 4 in Brisbane.
