Pietersen Slams Virat Kohli, Urges Him to ‘Watch Joe Root’ After Rashid’s Dismissal

Pietersen Slams Virat Kohli: India had ticked off one box before leaving for Dubai for the Champions Trophy next week, courtesy of Virat Kohli's half-century in the last of the three ODIs against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. However, former England batter Kevin Pietersen refused to accept the talk of a return to form, berating Kohli for getting out to Adil Rashid for the second consecutive time in the series.

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Kohli's form was a significant worry for India as they headed to the ICC tournament. This was after a long lull in run-making in red-ball cricket, poor returns in the Ranji Trophy early in the last month, and Kohli could muster only five runs in the second ODI on Sunday against England when Rashid dismissed him; Kohli had missed the 1st one-day match due to a swollen knee.

But by Wednesday, Kohli had apparently hit the run road, smashing his 73rd ODI fifty, which was crucial for India in setting a mammoth target of 357 for England.

While this knock was a huge sigh of relief for India, Pietersen, while chatting on Star Sports during one of the mid-innings discussions, was commenting on how the 11th career dismissal against Rashid annoyed him for Kohli's sake. He felt Kohli should have gone on to the big score.

"He shouldn't be getting out to that ball. He's a much better player than that. And he will be kicking himself. That ball is bowled slowly through the air. So he shouldn't have been over-committed on the front foot. He should have played back to it. He should have punched it into the offside, and he would still have been batting and he probably would have gone on to get a big score," he said.

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Virat Kohli told to ‘watch Joe Root’

Looking at the dismissal further, Pietersen said that Joe Root would never get out to a delivery like that and told Kohli to watch his contemporary.

“You can see where it hits from side on angle. That hits the top of the bat. That hits the splice of the bat. Which means that he got his lengths wrong. That's nowhere near the middle of his bat. Have a look at that,” he said.

“That's where you can see where the ball has made contact with the bat. Look how far forward his bat is in front of his pad. This means he's got the length wrong and he's too good a player to get out like that. He shouldn't be doing it. He shouldn't be giving Adel Rashid that chance to get his wicket. You watch Joe Root. He will never be over-committed on the front foot like that. No way.”

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