The England Cricket team returned to action in the longest format of the sport as they faced West Indies in the first test match on Wednesday. It was a huge occasion, since this encounter was star fast bowler James Anderson’s last international appearance. The last time England played a Test series was against India where they handed a massive 1-4 defeat in the 5-match series.

several fans and experts believed that England’s ‘Bazball’ approach did not work for them and the result was a clear indication of it against India. However, former England pacer Steve Harminson believes that the national side played good cricket in India and even gave the hosts ‘a real headache’ during the series.

“I thought they (England) played excellent cricket in India. They gave India some real headaches. But then, all of a sudden, when you get to a point that you go, ‘oh no, they’ve done it again’. How many times you see a crash of wickets? That’s the problem, where you need to read a room. You can’t have everything in an ideal world. The way these red ball players play now, it’s far better than what it was in the previous regime,” Harminson said.

I don’t think India killed Bazball. I think India played better cricket in their own backyard. They made smarter decisions under pressure. But I think there were definitely times during those five Test matches where England gave India a real headache. And not many teams have done that to India in India,” he added.

Meanwhile, the decision of bowling first, taken by England captain Ben Stokes was greeted with a huge cheers from the crowd along with the spectators eager to witness the last chapter of a record-breaking Test career.

Since his debut against Zimbabwe as Lord’s in 2003, Anderson has taken 700 wickets in Test cricket, the most by any fast bowler.