Felt like they had gone too far: R Ashwin on James Anderson’s comments on chasing down 500 or 600 in 60 overs

Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday said on his YouTube channel that the comment by the England veteran almost felt like they had gone too far with their confidence.

“James Anderson went into a press conference in the second Test after winning the first considerably well. Much respect to them for winning that. He told the press that even if the 4th innings target was 500 or 600, we’ll finish it in 60 overs. Even though it was an example of their positive mindset, it felt like they had gone too far,” Ashwin said.

England’s Bazball template have come under a fair bit of criticism after they lost the Test series 4-1 to India with former England skippers Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain slamming the team for the approach.

Ashwin also shared his two cents on the matter terming Bazball as defenseless cricket. “The one thing I understood after the first Test is that Bazball isn’t just aggressive cricket. It is defenseless cricket. They aren’t going to play a defensive shot at all. They are going to get out if they play defense. To my surprise, Joe Root also agreed to their game plan. Because if you take world cricket’s vest defense rankings, Root is an easy number 1 on that list against spin. He also bought into their approach,” the 37-year-old said.