Ahmedabad, Feb 13: A “gobsmacked” Kevin Pietersen has lashed out at the England team for their lack of practice during their tour of India, stating that the players should have been facing net bowlers and working on their ability to play spin.
England endured a disastrous tour, suffering a 4-1 defeat in the T20I series before being whitewashed 3-0 in the ODIs.
While England held a couple of training sessions before the tour began in Kolkata with the first T20I, they held one session each in Chennai and Rajkot before the second and third T20Is.
But no sessions were held ahead of the fourth and fifth T20Is in Pune and Mumbai, respectively. They also did not hold training sessions before the second and third ODIs at Cuttack and Ahmedabad.
“I’m sorry, but I am absolutely gobsmacked that England did not have ONE team practice session since losing the 1st ODI and losing the T20 series,” a frustrated Pietersen wrote on his X account.
“How can this be? Seriously, how? I believe Joe Root was the only player to have a net this series, post Nagpur,” he added.
England’s inability to handle spin has been a glaring issue throughout the series, raising serious concerns ahead of next week’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE.
“There isn’t a single sportsman on this planet who can honestly say that they’d improve without practicing while they’re getting beaten. There also cannot be one player in that England side that can sit on the plane leaving India and say to themselves they did everything they could to try to help England win.
“And for that, I am actually incredibly sad this evening. Losing is fine if you’re giving your best to improve every day, and if England didn’t train during this series, then they didn’t try. Heartbreaking for any England fan!”
According to reports, England stopped net sessions due to mounting injuries and a packed schedule.
“Injuries are part of sport, and this schedule is like every bilateral series almost ever played. Injuries are NOT stopping batters from batting against net bowlers and learning the art of playing spin. And that’s where they should have been to IMPROVE!
“Trust me on this one, as it saved my career against spin!” he added.
While commentating on the third ODI, which England lost by 142 runs on Wednesday, Pietersen pointed out that Tom Banton, who replaced the injured Jacob Bethell, spent the day before the match on the golf course instead of training.
“I never played golf when I played cricket. I was in the nets hitting thousands of balls, trying to make improvements here in the sub-continent. Have your days off in England.”
“England will be bitterly disappointed, but they have only got themselves to blame. The margin of defeat got bigger and bigger. Thinking caps need to go on very quickly. If you don’t practice, you don’t improve.
“The sub-continent is where you learn the art of being able to play these guys, by playing all sorts of spinners in the nets… England should be spending hours in the nets and leaving India thinking they are much better players of spin.”
Former India coach Ravi Shastri had also touched upon England’s lack of sufficient training.
“From what I’ve heard, England has had just one net session this entire trip, if not any. If you’re not prepared to do the hard yards, you’re not going to improve,” Shastri said while doing commentary.
However, skipper Jos Buttler defended his team’s training schedule.
“I’m not sure that’s quite true, to be honest. We had a reasonably long tour and a few long travel days. There’s been a couple of times we’ve not trained, but we’ve certainly done plenty of training throughout the tour,” Buttler told the media.
“We obviously try and create a really good environment, but don’t mistake that for a lazy environment or a lack of effort. The guys are desperate to perform and do well and improve,” Buttler added.
