The current team management under Gautam Gambhir is pretty big on having a left-hand right-hand combination, something that saw Dhruv Jurel walk out to bat at No.8 in the third T20I in Rajkot.
Former England legendary batter Kevin Pietersen criticised the Indian team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir for not providing a clear role to Dhruv Jurel in the third T20I against England.
The current team management under Gautam Gambhir is pretty big on having a left-hand right-hand combination, something that saw Dhruv Jurel walk out to bat at No.8 in the third T20I in Rajkot. The likes of Washington Sundar and Axar Patel were promoted ahead of Jurel to maintain a left-hand right-hand combination in the middle.
According to Kevin Pietersen, the move didn’t make any sense as it only delayed the entry point of Jurel, thereby affecting his confidence. He felt that such a strategy only puts the best batters out of the game.
“In the last match, Dhruv Jurel didn’t even get to bat. What is he in the team for? I don’t like this right and left combination. You bat your best batters and give them the best chance to bat more balls, be it at the top of the order, at No.3 or No.4. If you keep thinking left-right, right-left, you put your best batters out of the game. I have criticized teams who have gone with this thought process,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.
The move didn’t pay any dividends as Sundar made just 6 runs off 15 balls while Axar scored 15 runs off 16 balls. India failed to clinch the series in Rajkot, falling short of the target by 26 runs.
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While India couldn’t seal the series in Rajkot, they dished out a commendable performance in Pune despite being under pressure to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series. England opted to bowl first and had India in dire straits at 79/5.
However, half-centuries from Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube helped the Men in Blue to put up a competitive target of 182 runs. England got off to a rollicking start, thanks to a 62-run stand between openers Ben Duckett and Phil Salt. However, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and in the end lost the game by 15 runs.
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