NEW DELHI: Former England batsman
Kevin Pietersen
launched a scathing attack on India batter
Shreyas Iyer
after he failed to capitalise on the start he got during the first day of the second Test against England on Friday in Visakhapatnam.
Pietersen raised doubts about Iyer's desire to score runs and expected him to rise to the occasion, especially in the absence of star batters
Virat Kohli
and KL Rahul.
"Listen, when Kohli comes back and other guys come back (KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja) 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."
Iyer scored 27 runs from 59 balls before under-edging an attempted cut to the wicketkeeper Ben Foakes off the left-arm spinner
Tom Hartley
.
Pietersen also raised concerns on Iyer's intent, who was shuffling his leg out to the leg side and then returns to a defensive stance.
"When he is facing up to the bowler, he is jogging his leg out to leg side and then comes back to just defend the ball. You go to show some more intent than leg out there.
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," he added.
English (US) ·