Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen praised India's middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer for his incredible knock in the first ODI against England on February 6, Thursday. Iyer scored his second-fastest ODI fifty and played a crucial role in the game after the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The right-handed batter scored 59 runs off 36 balls, smashing nine fours and two sixes. He smashed boundaries in the spells of Jofra Archer, especially against the short balls, which struggled him a lot in the past. Although, after the match, he made a shocking statement that he was included in the playing XI because Virat Kohli was injured; otherwise, there was no space for him in the team.
"Batting was so easy for Shreyas Iyer" - Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen said that Iyer batted very beautifully, especially when Jofra Archer came out with the short ball; it looks like it was so easy for him.
"He batted beautifully; he really did. Jofra Archer came out with the short ball, and very fast, and it was as if batting was so easy for Shreyas Iyer this evening. The faster it came, the quicker it went. What was pretty cool about his batting was that he found the gaps."
"Neither applied with bat nor with ball" - Kevin Pietersen
It was seen that Pietersen was disappointed with the performance of England. He slammed the team by stating that neither played well with the bat nor with the ball.
"England neither applied themselves with the bat, nor did they target the stumps enough with the ball. In India, if you do not target the stumps with the ball, how did you take wickets?"
With India's first win in the ODI by 4 wickets, they took a 1-0 lead against England in the three-match series. The second ODI will be played on February 9, Sunday, at the Barabati Stadium.