Former England batter Kevin Pietersen applauded Shreyas Iyer for his heroics in the first ODI in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6. He praised the right-hander for his exploits against Jofra Archer, especially against the short ball outburst, which has troubled him in the past as well. He also credited Iyer for playing the field to his advantage as well.

Kevin Pietersen told Star Sports (via India Today): “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.”

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“It looked like Shreyas Iyer had a plan in his mind. The bowlers were bowling 140+, and he managed to use their pace. Yes, he was hanging back, but his weight was always on the front foot, that’s how he played square of the wicket so well. I thought that the clarity of mind was there against very fast bowling,” he again added. “Shreyas got inside the line to the short ball, whereas earlier he used to open up and target point, that was the slight technical change that he made.”

Kevin Pietersen further slammed England’s bowling attack after Team India chased down 249 with 11.2 overs to spare as well. He said that the bowlers should have bowled stumps to stumps while defending a below-par total as well.

He concluded, “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 will you take wickets?”