Mumbai: Kevin Pietersen has asked England cricketers to be wary of R Ashwin and Virat Kohli as India take on Alastair Cook-led side in a five-match Test series commencing on November 9 in Rajkot. Pietersen made it clear that picking Ashwin’s doosara will be a key to England’s success in India.
The former England skipper, who enjoys a solid record against the Indian side, was brought back to the English side for 2012-13 series in India. Not only did England won the series after losing the first Test, but the maverick batsman played a pivotal role in his team’s success. The South Africa-born cricketer amassed 338 runs in the series including a brilliant 186-run knock in Mumbai.
While he scored heavily against archrivals Australia in Ashes, his Wankhede heroics are still considered to be one of his best ever.
Pietersen told ‘The Cricketer’, “Ashwin is a good bowler. He uses his variations very well, especially the way he approaches the crease. He’s always looking to attacking and outfox a batsman,” said Pietersen.
“When I’ve played against him, I could pick his doosra, so I was OK. But if England’s batsmen can’t pick his doosra they’ll have issues. I was always looking to smash his off-spinner. The low bounce might make it harder, but that’s part of the challenge of playing in India,” he added.
England side tumbled against Bangladesh and faced an embarrassing defeat in the second Test. England had lost the series had Ben Stokes not guided them to victory in the first Test. While the all-rounder was a standout performer, other England cricketers failed to tackle Mehedi Hasan, who was playing his first series, and Shakib Al Hasan’s spin.
England’s coach Trevor Bayliss has expressed concern over his batsmen’s failure and said it would take a while to iron out their issues against spin.
Pietersen suggested that Alastair Cook and co must find a boundary option as they take on Virat Kohli-led side.
“Batsmen have got to find themselves a boundary option in India. It’s all about rotating the strike and manoeuvring the field. I was OK in India. I enjoyed it there. I made plenty of hundreds there,” said Pietersen.
Pietersen also refused to compare Joe Root and Virat Kohli. In fact, he felt it is unfair to compare the two.
“Kohli is as good as it gets. He is right up there. Root has good numbers, but it’s unfair to even compare Joe with Virat because his numbers are just phenomenal. He plays so aggressively – sometimes it’s like – are you serious? The way he makes big runs for his team so often is just remarkable,” said Pietersen.
While Kohli is making all the right moves to become one of the best Indian batsmen in the longer format of the game, his former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate
was effusive in his praise for Kohli’s surreal performances in the shorter formats of the game. The star Indian cricketer has 26 ODI hundreds in just 176 matches.
“I switched on the TV and saw him play that 85 not out at Dharamsala (against New Zealand) – goodness, that was amazing. He just has that ability to rotate the strike and find boundaries. His ODI record is a joke. Such an old head on young-ish shoulders.”
Pietersen, meanwhile sympathised with England and Wales Cricket Board against whom he did not really enjoy a good rapport till recently. Pietersen felt ECB are doing everything they can to produce quality spinners and help their batsmen improve their game against spin.
“It’s hard for the ECB to contrive anything about spin bowling in the domestic game because of the weather. Swanny (Graeme Swann) was a wonderful bowler on all surfaces and he had the advantage of learning his trade at Northampton at a time when they did have spinning pitches,” he said.
“It’s not as if there are too many Muralis (Muttiah Muralitharan), Warnes (Shane Warne), Kumbles (Anil Kumble) and Harbhajans (Harbhajan Singh) out there in the world game at the moment. But having said that, these are international bowlers and they can still get you out,” concluded Pietersen.
