"They say Bazball but at times, I feel they say 'Aa bail mujhe maar'" - Aakash Chopra criticizes England's performance in IND vs ENG 2025 T20Is

Former India player Aakash Chopra has criticized England's batting in the recently concluded T20I series against the Men in Blue. He noted that the 'Bazball' approach was more like inviting trouble.

England suffered a 4-1 defeat in the five-match T20I series against India. The hosts handed them a 150-run drubbing in the fifth T20I in Mumbai on Sunday, February 2, bowling the visitors out for 97 after posting a mammoth 247/9.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener pointed out that Jos Buttler and company's batting approach was found wanting against both spin and swing.

"England, the less we say about you, the better it is because your game was extremely ordinary. Phil Salt in one match, Buttler in two matches and Ben Duckett in one-and-a-half matches. In batting, Harry Brook in one match and Liam Livingstone in half a match," he said (16:15).

"The performance was was not there at all. They aren't able to play if the ball spins a little and they find it difficult if it swings. They say Bazball, but at times I feel they say 'Aa bail mujhe maar', they bat like that many times," Chopra added.

Buttler (146 runs at an average of 29.20 in five innings) was the only England batter to aggregate more than 100 runs in the T20I series against India. Adil Rashid (44 runs at an average of 22.00) was the only other player to average more than 20.

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"The story of this series has been that whenever spin has come, England have gotten out" - Piyush Chawla on IND vs ENG T20Is

Phil Salt was bamboozled by Varun Chakaravarthy on multiple occasions. [P/C: Getty]

During a discussion on Star Sports, Piyush Chawla highlighted England's struggles against spin, with Phil Salt (55 off 23) being the only visiting player to score more than 10 runs in the final T20I in Mumbai.

"This happens quite often if the opposition team scores nearly 250 runs in a T20 game, you either see the team reaching 200-225 or they get out for 100-120, and that's what we got to see today (Sunday). However, the story of this series has been that whenever spin has come, England have gotten out," he said.

The veteran India spinner noted that the visitors couldn't make the most of a promising start, with Shivam Dube proving that Harshit Rana was the right concussion substitute for him with his exploits with the ball.

"Today also they started well, it was a destructive start, but after that wickets kept falling continuously. Shivam Dube came and put to rest all the questions people had raised about the concussion substitute because he too bowled like that and picked up two wickets," Chawla observed.

Dube registered figures of 2/11 in two overs in Sunday's game. While Mohammed Shami (3/25) was the most successful Indian bowler, Varun Chakaravarthy (2/25) and Abhishek Sharma (2/3) picked up two wickets apiece.