Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has thrown his weight behind the England batters to do better against the in-form Varun Chakravarthy in ODIs after surrendering to him in the T20Is.
Chakravarthy was all over England in the five-match T20I series, having taken 14 wickets and winning the Player of the Series award. Chakravarthy missed out on the world record of picking the most wickets in a Bilateral T20I series, the record which still belongs to Jason Holder, who took 15 wickets.
Chakravarthy has been added to the Indian ODI squad for the series against England which many believe was a much-needed move considering his form in the shortest format and his exploits in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Pietersen feels that England batters will be able to do better against the mystery spinner in the ODIs. “The English batters would be better against him in the one-dayers because they can spend more time. It’s a longer format, not every ball is an event. But I think it is a great decision (to add Chakravarthy),” Pietersen told media in Mumbai.
Harshit Rana’s like-for-like replacement move for Shivam Dube decisive factor in the series, Pietersen feels
Meanwhile, the England great Pietersen feels that the move to bring fast-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana in for batting all-rounder Shivam Dube in the fourth T20I in Pune was a decisive factor in the series.
“It was a disappointing series from England’s perspective. I think that in the fourth T20I, if the concussion substitution had been done correctly, maybe England would have got up there,” he said.
“It would have been 2-2 coming to the Wankhede (Stadium for final T20I). It would have been way more on the game. But it didn’t happen.”
Pietersen also heaped praise on Abhishek Sharma, stating that he has shades of Yuvraj Singh. “Abishek is amazing. He had the shades (of Yuvraj). Obviously, Yuvraj is rubbing off now on Abishek. His batting was fantastic.
It was the best T20 international innings, I’ve ever seen and I said that to him afterwards,” Pietersen said.
