He believes that India unnecessarily changed their batting order in the third T20I.
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen believes that India unnecessarily changed their batting order in the third T20I against Jos Buttler’s England side at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.
India struggled to chase down the target after allowing England to score 171 in the first innings and eventually lost the match by 26 runs.
Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma batted in the top 4 positions. After losing wickets quickly, Hardik Pandya was sent in at No. 5 to stabilize the chase.
However, instead of sending right-handed batter Dhruv Jurel, India promoted left-handed all-rounders Washington Sundar and Axar Patel to counter Adil Rashid’s leg-spin. Jurel finally came in at No. 8 when the required run rate had already risen to 16 per over.
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Speaking on Star Sports, Kevin Pietersen slammed India for the move of playing all-rounders just to maintain a left-right combination ahead of Dhruv Jurel in the batting order.
He felt that India went wrong in not using Jurel, who is a proper batter, in a better position. According to Pietersen, the best batters should always bat higher up the order rather than being held back for strategic matchups.
“India didn’t get the batting order right. Dhru Jurel is an accomplished batter. Having him lower down the order for the left and right combination was not right. I’m a firm believer in your best batters batting up front,” he said on Star Sports.
Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel felt that Dhruv Jurel, who scored just 2 runs off 4 balls, would have fared better if he had more time at the crease. He also opined that the left-right combination at the top order is important but after No. 4, teams must send their best batters down the order. According to him, Jurel, being a proper batter, could have really built up an innings had he been allowed to bat early.
“Left and right combination is alright till No. 4 but after that you should send your best batters. Jurel is a proper batsman. He could have constructed a big innings,” Patel said.
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