‘They were in a hurry’ – Kevin Pietersen comes down heavily on England batters after loss in second Test

Kevin Pietersen. (Photo Source: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has come down heavily on England batters after their loss on Day 4 of the second Test against India in Visakhapatnam. Chasing a target of 399, England came into the day on 67/1 needing another 332 runs to win. However, they were bundled out for 292 as Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah picked three wickets each.

Following England’s loss, Pietersen felt that the team was in a hurry to chase down the target and hence lost the match. The former batter-turned-commentator further stated that the target was within reach and if one of the batters had applied himself in the middle then they would’ve got over the line.

“England batters were in a hurry, and that’s why we lost the game. The score was within limits and had any batter stayed back, the team would have won the game. Ollie Pope was looking to take single or score boundaries on every ball, and the same happened with Joe Root. Root is a legend of the game, but he should have tried to stay at the crease. The wicket was good for batting, but the players didn’t stay long enough to make a charge for the total,” he said on Jio Cinema.

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Joe Root has scored just 52 runs in the series so far

Notably, Ollie Pope (23 off 21) and Joe Root (16 off 10) were dismissed in the first session of the day both falling prey to Ravichandran Ashwin. Pope edged one straight to Rohit Sharma at first slip, who completed a brilliant reflex catch to his left. On the other hand, Root looked in a hurry uncharacteristically smashing two fours and a six in his first ten balls.

He eventually ended up playing one shot too many and top-edged Ashwin straight to short third man continuing his poor show in the series so far. In the four innings in the series so far, Root has scored just 52 runs at an average of 13 while Pope is the second-highest run scorer of the series with 243 runs to his name at an average of 60.45.

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Meanwhile, the two teams will have an eight-day gap between the second and Third Test which begins on February 15 at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.