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Gujarat Titans' current batting coach Parthiv Patel has criticised franchise's title-winning captain Hardik Pandya for playing too many dot balls in the middle overs. In the third T20I, India could not chase down a target of 172 in Rajkot. Pandya scored 40 runs from 35 balls but could not take India over the line as he was dismissed in the penultimate over. Patel feels that a batter taking 20-25 balls in a T20I to get set is not acceptable.
"One cannot take 20-25 balls to get set in a T20I," Parthiv said in the post-match show on Star Sports.
"Can't take 20-25 balls to get set. I understand taking your time but you have to keep rotating the strike. Hardik may have ended up with 40 off 35, but there were a lot of dot balls at the start of his innings."
After the 14th over, Pandya was batting on 14 off 21 balls. His strike rate crossed 100 in the 17th over when he hit Mark Wood for a six. In the next over, he hit a six off Jofra Archer as well but the required run rate got out of the grasp. India needed 41 runs in the last two overs. He had denied a single to Dhruv Jurel on the last ball of the previous over. On the first ball of the penultimate over, he took the aerial route against Jamie Overton and was caught at long-off by captain Jos Buttler.
Pietersen unhappy with Jurel's batting position
While Parthiv criticised Pandya, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen was not convinced with India's batting order set by the team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir. He questioned why Jurel was sent to bat at no.8.
"India didn't get the batting order right. Dhruv Jurel is an accomplished batter. Having him lower down the order for the left and right combination was not right. I'm a firm believer in your best batters batting up front," he said.
Parthiv criticises batting order too
Parthiv joined him as well. The former wicketkeeper-batter said feels that India went overboard in order to maintain the left and right combination in the middle.
"Left and right combination is alright till No.4 but after that you should send your best batters. Jurel is a proper batsman. He could have constructed a big innings," said the 39-year-old.
England made a comeback in the five-T20I series after two consecutive losses. The third T20I will be played on January 31 at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
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