“We’re not going to change our approach” – Zak Crawley ahead of IND vs ENG Test series

England opener Zak Crawley has highlighted that they are not going to change their aggressive batting approach in the upcoming Test series against India. England, under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, have adopted Bazball, which has reaped fruitful rewards for the team.

England has won 13 out of the 19 matches with their ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ approach. Interestingly England have scored their runs with an impressive run rate of almost five in the last two years.

In fact, Zak Crawley kicked off the 2023 Ashes when he drove Mitchell Starc for a scorching cover drive to get things underway. The right-hander had batted at his absolute best against the potent Australian bowling attack, scoring 480 runs in five Test matches at an average of 53.33.

Crawley has amassed 2204 runs in 39 Test matches at an average of 31.49 and will have his work cut out against the experienced Indian spinners.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Zak Crawley said, “We’re not going to change our approach. It has to be judged at the time. We talk about being fully present. If you’re not present, you build up all these ideas about what it’s going to be like, what the pitches will be, but we could turn up and the first Test is on a belter of a pitch. We could turn up and it’s an absolutely raging turner, so you have to adapt your gameplan and play the situation. You can’t decide that until you’re out there and you’re reading the situation.”

Crawley added it is important to trust the process and not be too desperate for the result to go one’s way.

“I’ve struggled a lot in my career with wanting the result too much. Sometimes you have to let go and trust the process. Whenever I’ve tried too hard or wanted it too much, that’s when I feel more mistakes come. It’s certainly something I still battle with. I’ve had it before where I’ve had a lot of failure and I can say, ‘Listen, I’m just going to let go’ and that’s usually when I come good. That’s a big thing I’m working on now, to see how much I can get in that mindset of just going out and playing, rather than thinking I need to make a score right now.”

The first Test match between India and England will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from 25 January onwards.