There were moments during the Ashes when it appeared 'Bazball' - the popularly coined aggressive style of cricket England's Test team plays, doubling as something like a way of life for them - was about to be buried by a disciplined and veteran Australia.

With a 2-0 lead, having capitalized on a reckless England seemingly having drank their own bath water, Australia appeared set to win the Ashes outright in the third Test and break a two-decade curse in the U.K.

The obits on 'Bazball' were about to be written as a big Ashes loss on home soil - a much-hyped series that defines eras for the rivals - would have put the polarizing approach under the microscope.

But England held their nerve to claim a thriller in Headingley before the very best of 'Bazball' was unleashed during the final two Tests, dominating a flagging Australian team that finally seemed to crack under the avalanche.

Only Manchester's rain in the fourth Test stopped England from possibly winning the series although the 2-2 scoreline appeared an appropriate result.

The tempestuous series had festered into a battle of ideologies - England's turbo charged futuristic style against Australia's more traditional and sedate approach.

It turns out that there are different ways to win matches, which bodes well for the slumping format of Test cricket although one suspects that teams will start copying England's template.

Pakistan have made its first steps although they are well-versed in playing a manic game, one that has often descends into chaos.

Having survived world number one Australia's challenge, with genuine claims of being the better side, England can feel vindicated about their style of play adopted under the leadership of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes last year.

Like they impressively did during the Ashes, England are set to double down on their beliefs that have seemingly taken hold of every fibre of the organization.

But 'Bazball' will have its biggest test - pardon the pun - next when they tour India in January for a five-match series.

It is the hardest challenge in Test cricket with India losing just three of their previous 48 home Test matches - a record that even shades Australia's great Test team during their golden period in the 2000s.

England will be up against it in difficult terrain with their cavalier batting to be severely examined against India's talismanic spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Against Australia, England purposely rolled out flat pitches to suit their high-octane batting and penchant for counter-attacking quick bowling.

England's aggressive batters prefer pace bowling and feasted during the backend of the Ashes on Australia's tiring quicks, particularly exhausted captain Pat Cummins who was also battling a fractured wrist injury in the final Test.

They, however, can go overboard in their approach - which proved costly in the opening two Ashes Tests - particularly against spin. Nathan Lyon, Australia's frontline spinner, was the best bowler before suffering a series-ending calf injury in the second Test.

With pitches undoubtedly set to heavily favor spin in India, much like what Australia encountered earlier this year, England will have to be careful of not being too outlandish with the bat.

They dangerously walked the tightrope early in the Ashes before finding the perfect balance where they picked their moments of attack to perfection. When they had Australia clueless and Cummins looking as if he would rather the ground swallow him up, all the starry-eyed visions of 'Bazball' had manifested so magnificently on field.

As they smartly did after losing at Lord's, slightly reigning in their style, England will need to again tweak their approach and pick their spots. The best time to bat ultra-aggressively in India will be against the new ball, but once spin is deployed then they will have to recalibrate.

England's biggest weakness will be their spin department although they should have frontline spinner Jack Leach back from injury after he missed the Ashes.

But they will probably need a second spinner and their most likely options are fringe spinners Will Jacks and Liam Dawson - neither of whom had a vote of confidence for the Ashes with England shocking the world by going back to the well with veteran Moeen Ali, which proved an inspired selection.

It will be intriguing to see how England fares and the brains trust will be grateful there is plenty of time to strategize and hone their favored methodology ahead of the toughest challenge in cricket.

It will be, as promised by 'Bazball' believers, appointment viewing.