"A guy like Dhruv Jurel.."- England legend rips apart Gautam Gambhir's bizarre tactic in 3rd T20I

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has raised questions over the batting position of Dhruv Jurel in the third T20I between India and England at Rajkot. Pietersen feels that a well-accomplished batter like Jurel should have come up with the order in order to make more impact.

Dhruv Jurel came in to bat at No. 8 in India's run-chase as the team management preferred to send allrounders like Washington Sundar and Axar Patel over him. The move didn't quite work as Jurel didn't have much time to get his eye in and was dismissed for just 2 off 4 balls.

Watch: Jofra Archer’s blinder ends Abhishek Sharma’s explosive innings in 3rd T20I

Kevin Pietersen questions Dhruv Jurel's batting position

During a discussion on Star Sports, Kevin Pietersen spoke about India's batting failure at Rajkot. The former England captain was unhappy with the batting order which involved Dhruv Jurel batting lower than Washington Sundar and Axar Patel.

"I didn't like the batting order either. I'm someone who believes your best batters should bat at the top of the order. I was in South Africa last week, and the Durban's Super Giants were having an absolute shocker of a tournament," Pietersen said.

Pietersen also cited an example in the ongoing SA20 where established batters like Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen played lower than their usual batting position and claimed not to be pleased with that strategy.

"But Quinton de Kock was batting at 3 or 4, and Heinrich Klaasen was batting at 6 or 7. I approached these guys and asked, 'Why are you doing this?'" Pietersen reckoned.

"You've seen the same thing happen here this evening. A guy like Dhruv Jurel, who is a very good and accomplished batter, is being dropped down the order because of the left-hander, right-hander strategy. Hardik is struggling a little, and there wasn't that much pressure on these batters to come out and score at 10 runs per over," he added.

Why did Dhruv Jurel bat down the order?

Left-handed batter Washington Sundar came in to bat at No. 6 in the match with an attempt to neutralize the effect legspinner Adil Rashid was having in the match. Rashid was extracting a huge amount of turn and caused a lot of trouble for the Indian batters.

Sundar had also scored a quickfire 26 in the last game. However, he was dismissed for a miserable 6 off 15 balls as India slumped further. Another left-hander Axar Patel came in next as Dhruv Jurel had to wait even more for his opportunity.

Axar smashed a couple of boundaries but was eventually dismissed for 15 off 16 balls. Jurel finally arrived in the 18h over of the match as the last recognized batter of the Indian line-up. But he was out while trying to scoop a full ball from Brydon Carse and was caught comfortably by the wicketkeeper Phil Salt.

England make a comeback

After losing the first two matches, England made a strong comeback in Rajkot by winning the third T20I. Varun Chakravarthy put England in a spot of bother with a magnificent five-wicket haul.

But they kept on playing with an attacking intent to take their team to 171-9. In reply, India could only score 145-9 in 20 overs. England's bowlers were exceptional overall and reduced India to a paltry score. The series is now 2-1 in favor of India with two more matches to go.