Kevin Pietersen blames Jasprit Bumrah for letting England off the hook
India conceded a position of strength to stand on the verge of a painstaking defeat in the Edgbaston Test.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen was critical of India's stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah after his countrymen turned things around brilliantly against the visitors on the penultimate day of the Edgbaston Test.
Despite India starting off play at 125/3, leading England in the third-innings by a significant 257 runs, the tourists could muster only another 120 runs to their total on Day 4. This, before England dominated their way to a position of strength at 259 for 3 in just 57 overs.
Allowing the hosts off the hook, India saw them gain a strong footing in the match again, looking set for a record run-chase, with two in-form players Joe Root (76*) and Jonny Bairstow (72*) not out overnight and a lengthy batting line-up to come.
While none of the seamers went for less than 4 an over on a collectively horrible stint with the ball, Pietersen felt some of the blame for the visitors troubles in putting England under pressure fall on their skipper Jasprit Bumrah's tactics.
Kevin Pietersen puts blame for England's recovery on Jasprit Bumrah's captaincy
Speaking after the day's play, Pietersen stressed on the baffling ease at which England were able to rotate the strike despite the old ball offering India some reverse swing. The likes of Mohammed Siraj (0/64), Shardul Thakur (0/33) and Mohammad Shami (0/49) repeatedly err with their lines and even Jasprit Bumrah (2/53) went for over 4.10 runs an over.
"I don't think Bumrah got his tactics right today at all, and I say that with the greatest deal of respect," Pietersen was quoted as saying by The Cricketer. "There is no way with a reverse swinging ball that he should make it that easy for the batter, because the batter is trying so hard to decipher which way that ball is swinging."
"When it's reverse swinging at 90mph, the nicest place to bat is at the non-strikers end, and the ability to get to the non-strikers end as easily as they did this afternoon, it's too easy," he added.
For Pietersen, if Jasprit Bumrah doesn't opt for more aggressive ploys with his captaincy, England will ramp home to a victory that would hurt the Indians for a long time to come.
"They had long off and long on, and that was pure madness. For half an hour that was pure madness. Even for the last 15-20 minutes of the day's play, pull them right in, say 'Jonny, if you're good enough to hit me over the head, please do it.'"
"I hope they don't do it tomorrow morning, but for England's sake, absolutely, let them spread them as far as they want," he said.