During the early stages of Day 4 in the second Test between India and England, Kevin Pietersen voiced concerns over Rohit Sharma's captaincy tactics, specifically pointing out what he considered to be overly cautious field settings. Pietersen's critique was broadcast during his stint in commentary during the morning session of Day 4, triggered by Rehan Ahmed striking two fours in quick succession off Axar Patel in the day's fourth over. This followed Zak Crawley's boundary in the last ball of the previous over, marking a trio of boundaries in swift succession.
"Have a look at the captaincy from Rohit Sharma," Pietersen said on air.
"Why is long on back? Why is mid off back? Why be so defensive straight away when England still need way over 300 runs to win this Test match? Keep Rehan Ahmed on strike, he’s hit two fours yes but he should have been out first ball of the day. The first boundary he did hit this morning wasn’t convincing at all, he’s just tipped it away now to a wide mid on.
"Ben Stokes yesterday was brilliant at the start, he made a mistake when he allowed manipulation of the field by batters picking up singles. He decided no way I’m going to let the batter go and what happened? He broke the partnership and he got wickets, he made things happen. I don’t like how negative this is," he added.
Rehan's stint at the crease ended when Axar Patel trapped him LBW, after contributing 23 runs to the team's total. England's batting lineup then experienced a rapid decline, dropping to 154/4 as both Ollie Pope and Joe Root were dismissed in close succession within a span of three overs.
Pietersen reiterated his critique following Root's dismissal, which occurred as the batters attempted an ambitious slog off Ravichandran Ashwin, only to be caught by Axar at backward point. Pietersen attributed this lapse in England's batting partly to Rohit Sharma's conservative approach in field placement, suggesting that such tactics might have contributed to England's challenging chase of a 399-run target.
"The field was up so it invited Joe Root to go down the ground," Pietersen continued.
"Here again, have a look at this field, everybody is out on the boundary. Why is everybody out on the boundary? England still need 245 to win – there’s Bairstow and there’s Stokes. India have an opportunity here, Rohit Sharma has an opportunity here to just say, ‘Okay, Zak Crawley, are you going to still go? Are you still going to take a risk?"
"This is what Root did. Look at the field. Don’t look at the catch. Look where mid off is, look where mid on is. It invited Joe Root to go down the ground. Be brave, Rohit Sharma: be very, very brave. Bring mid on up, bring mid off up and say to these batters, keep going," the ex-England batter opined.
The pivotal morning session of Day 4 tipped the scales of the Test match in India's favour, with England reeling at 194/6 after 42.4 overs. England's hopes were pinned on Ben Stokes, who was yet to face a ball at the crease before lunch on Day 4, alongside Ben Foakes, whose contributions with the bat have been minimal in the series so far.
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