Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has criticised Jasprit Bumrah for his captaincy on day four of the ongoing Test between India and England at Edgbaston.
After dominating the first three days of the Edgbaston Test, Team India found themselves firmly on the backfoot at the end of day 4 as England made a stunning comeback. Day 4 started with India leading by 257 runs and seven wickets in hand with in-form Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle.
However, India’s advantage did not last long as England clawed their way back into the game, first with the ball and then bat. The hosts took the last 7 Indian wickets for just 92 runs to bowl them out for 245. It was followed by a stellar batting display.
Chasing 378, England were off to a brilliant start thanks to their openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley. The duo brought up the 100-run partnership in less than 20 overs before India took 3 wickets in quick succession to turn the game on its head.
However, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root did not let the visitors capitalise on the breakthroughs and stitched together an unbeaten stand of 150 runs to put England in driver’s seat. At the end of day 4, England were on 259 for 3, needing 119 runs more to register yet another memorable Test win.
Kevin Pietersen on Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy:
With England managing to end day 4 well on top, Kevin Pietersen criticised Jasprit Bumrah’s tactics for letting the hosts off the hook. Bumrah is leading the Test team for the first time in his career after skipper Rohit Sharma was tested positive for Covid-19.
The legendary batsman said that Bumrah did not capitalise on the reverse swing and let Root and Bairstow settle down with overly defensive fields throughout their innings.
“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 Sky Sports.
“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.
