'What's he in the team for?': Kevin Pietersen wallops Gautam Gambhir for India's 'right-left' tactic vs England

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen walloped India head coach Gautam Gambhir for overdoing the tactics of always keeping the left and right combination going in the middle during the T20I series against England. Gambhir, who has been deploying unusual tactics like playing eight sold batters and just one pacer in India's in this series, has also made a conscious effort to maintain a right and left-hand combination in the middle. Kevin Pietersen was not happy with Gautam Gambhir's tactics

In the first match, India captain Suryakumar Yadav walked in to bat No.3 as the man dismissed was a right-hander - Sanju Samson. In the second T20I, it was Tilak Varma at No.3 as the first man to depart was left-hander Abhishek Sharma. India won the first two matches but in the third, they failed to chase down 172 and the same tactics backfired as Dhruv Jurel, who was playing as a specialist batter, came in to bat as low as No.8.

Pietersen said there was no point in playing a batter at No.8 just to maintain the right and left combination.

"In the last match, Dhurv Jurel didn't even get to bat. What is he in the team for? I don't like this right and left combination. You bat your best batters and give them the best chance to bat more balls, be it at the top of the order, at No.3 or No.4. If you keep thinking left-right, right-left, you put your best batters out of the game. I have criticised teams who have gone with this thought process," Pietersen said in the pre-match show on Star Sports before the start of the fourth T20I in Pune.

India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said coach Gambhir always feels comfortable playing an extra batter. "You could argue that we don't want Dhruv Jurel batting at number 8. But I also think if you look at the blueprint of any of Gambhir's teams that he has coached since he's been coaching T20 cricket, it is a big part of how he likes to set up," Ten Doeschate said, explaining the rationale behind the strategy.

Jurel was dropped for the fourth match as India made three changes to their playing XI, bringing in Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh in place of Jurel, Washington Sundar and Mohammed Shami.

India, however, ditched the tactics on Friday as Tilak Verma came in to bat att he fall of Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh replaced Suryakumar Yadav in the middle.

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