Shreyas Iyer got dismissed for 27, thus extending his lean patch even further, and Kevin Pietersen was clearly critical of his innings.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has criticized Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer for his approach during the first day of the second Test between India and England. In the absence of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, Iyer came in to bat at a crucial No.4 position. He took his time and started the innings cautiously. Along with Jaiswal, he built a much needed partnership of 90 runs that helped in putting India back on track.
But Iyer was dismissed for 27 bringing an end to a much promising innings. He looked to cut a ball from Tom Hartley that kept low but got a bottom edge through to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes who took a brilliant catch. This failure has extended his lean patch in Tests even further as he has scored just 158 runs in his last 11 innings. The pressure started mounting on him from various factions as he failed to convert another score into a big one.
Kevin Pietersen was one of them as he termed his innings ‘Sloppy’. “Listen, when Kohli comes back and other guys come back and these are the days these boys are going to look back and go, ‘oh why did I not get a hundred?’ I had the opportunity to get the hundred. And when you are sloppy like that, getting out doesn’t impress me at all,” Pietersen said on Jio Cinema.
“You got to really grab the game by the scruff of its neck and say I am not letting go here. I am afraid to say with Shreyas it all seems a bit too sloppy. Sloppy is the word. Today’s innings didn’t impress me at all. Because I want people in my dressing room that are more hungry than that,” Pietersen said.
Iyer seemed to shuffle to the leg-side in order to disrupt the lines and lengths of the bowler but that didn’t go down well with Pietersen. KP further criticized Iyer’s intent as well. “If you really want to make a go and put pressure on the bowler, this (gestures the leg-side shuffling movement) doesn’t put the pressure on the bowler. It does nothing to the bowler. You got to show more intent.”
“On this wicket, why are you doing that? That’s my question: what’s the point in doing that? What you are doing is you are messing yourself up, losing where your stumps are as a batter. I am more comfortable if you are coming towards the bowler, this here does nothing for me.”
With the likes of Sarfaraz Khan on the bench and Virat Kohli set to walk in straight into the eleven as soon as he will be available, the time is running out for Shreyas Iyer. Meanwhile, India finished Day 1 on 336/6 with Jaiswal and Ashwin at the crease. Jaiswal scored his second Test century and is unbeaten on 179.
