In another three days, India and England will lock horns in the fourth and final Test of the four-match series. The pitch on which the third game was played at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium is still the talk of the town. Former captains Alistair Cook and Andrew Strauss have expressed disappointment over the quality of pitch surface, on which the game lasted only five sessions, making it the shortest Test in terms of balls bowled since 1935.
Now former star England batsman Kevin Pietersen has weighed in, saying coach Chris Silverwood should stop complaining about the pitch. This, according to KP, is a sign of a "defeatist attitude". India had won the pink ball test by 10 wickets on the second day, leading to a heated debate over the surface used for the game.
Speaking to Daily Mail, KP said the head English coach should "wind his neck in". Pietersen said if he were playing in the game, he would acknowledge the team played badly and "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."
The former middle-order batsman added that winning the next Test match, which means winning two matches in India and drawing the series would be a great feat to achieve.
He said the team and staff should focus on getting their defence right, instead of blaming the ICC, the pitch and other things.
Peterson said that even Indian captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma said that both teams displayed poor batting techniques on the pitch.
He added that none of the players got out to a ball that bounced or turned and took the edge to the slip. "They all got out to straight balls. So work on your defence. Use your bat, play straight, defend straight, play late, bat like Joe Root. Pretty damn simple."
The other thing, which Pieterson thinks went against England, was the decision to pick three fast bowlers for a turning wicket, adding Indians had better spinners.
KP also said that England are not going to prepare flat wickets for India to bat for three days when the latter tour them in the summer. They will be green, seaming pitches for home advantage to the English side, he said.
Pieterson, who captained England in the late 2000s, has also criticised the England Cricket Board's rotation policy for players. The team had sent Moeen Ali back home despite a brilliant performance with the ball in the second test match. KP said he was perplexed to see Moeenn not available for the last two test matches. He further added that besides ECB, nobody agrees with the rotation policy particularly for a series of this magnitude.
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