Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has adviced the English batsman to get their defense sorted against the spinning track ahead of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad from March 4. While the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott have defended the surface, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, David Lloyd, and others have slammed it left, right and center. He has further adviced players to forget about the pitch that was on offer for the third Test and prepare themselves for the fourth.
Ahead of the fourth Test, Kevin Pietersen has asked the England batsmen to work on their defence and not focus on the talks around the Ahmedabad pitch. He also explained how a majority of the batsmen got out to skidding straight deliveries from the spinners and not turners.
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‘You know what, I played badly, I have got a week now to try and play and practise as best as I can so that we can try and win the next Test match’. Because winning the next Test match and winning two Test matches in India and drawing the series is a damned good feat,” said Pietersen talking to TalkSport.
Sort Out Your Defense: Kevin Pietersen
“Instead of the negative, defeatist attitude, instead of blaming the ICC, blaming the pitch, trying to get India deducted points, all the nonsense surrounding that, I would be thinking, ‘Fine, 21 of us missed straight balls, let me go and sort my defence out against the straight ball and the spinner,” he added.
The third Test match at the Motera finished inside two days. It was the shortest Test match ever played with 842 balls bowled overall. Meanwhile, the loss has put England out of the race for the World Test Championship final. India, on the other hand, have to ensure that they should not lose the Test match and they will be playing the final against New Zealand on June 18 at Lord’s.
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