Kevin Pietersen criticizes Rohit Sharma with harsh words

Legendary batter Kevin Pietersen had some harsh words for India captain Rohit Sharma after his dismal performance in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam.

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Rohit Sharma could not capitalise on the perfect batting conditions though and fell cheaply to debutant off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for 14 off 41 balls.

A report by cricket website CricTracker quoted former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who is part of the commentator’s panel for the five-match Test series, criticizing the India captain for failing to score under batting-friendly conditions.

“It doesn’t matter who you get out to, you can get out to anybody,” he was quoted saying in the CricTracker report. “I think he’d be kicking himself because there were plenty of runs to be had here. On this wicket, against a very young and inexperienced bowling attack, he will be looking at his dismissal and thinking, ‘How on earth did I get myself out here?'”

Kevin Pietersen added that Rohit Sharma played with a lazy approach.

“That (the dismissal) was quite lazy. Yes, it is instinctive to knock the ball towards the leg side. But there was no urgency in what led to the dismissal. There was no urgency to try and get off the strike,” he said.

Kevin Pietersen added, “These guys are expansive from ball one in T20 cricket, they play so beautifully. We have not seen huge spin, massive bounce, or anything that should pose any fear in the batter’s mind.”

It is pertinent to mention that Kevin Pietersen’s former teammate and captain Michael Vaughan had reportedly hit out at at Rohit Sharma’s leadership in the series opener in Hyderabad. In a column for the UK news agency The Telegraph, he rated the India captain’s captaincy as “average” in the game.

“I thought Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was very, very average. I thought he was so reactive, I don’t think he manoeuvred his field or was proactive with his bowling changes. And he didn’t have any answer to Ollie Pope’s sweeps or reverse sweeps,” he stated.

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