Kevin Pietersen Feels It's Unfair To Blame Joe Root For England's Defeat In India

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has refused to blame Joe Root for his countrymen’s disappointing show in the Test series in India. Joe Root’s men have copped plenty of flak for their weakness against spin-bowlers, which the hosts brutally exposed in the four-match rubber. Instead of pointing fingers at Root, Kevin Pietersen felt that other batters must also have taken the responsibility.

Joe Root had been in sublime form ahead of the high-voltage four-Test tour of India as he earned the man of the series award in Sri Lanka for notably scoring a hundred and double hundred. He also started India’s series outstandingly, hammering a double ton to lead the tourists to a 227-run victory. But England’s wheels fell off as the series progressed and Root’s form tapered off too as he was unable to take too much responsibility alone.

Kevin Pietersen revealed that a captain has plenty of things to deal with and being the best player in the team; they have to set an example for their teammates. Pietersen also reminded that the right-handed batsman had scored a truckload of runs in Sri Lanka and enjoyed a dreamy start in India too. Thus, one should refuse to blame the skipper.

“Sometimes, as a captain, you got a lot to deal with. You’ve got a tremendous amount of things to deal with and being the best player in the team, you also need to try and lead by example. Don’t forget, Joe Root scored a double hundred, then a big hundred (both versus Sri Lanka) and again a double hundred in India. He scored plenty of runs over the last six to eight weeks, so let’s not point a finger at Root,” Pietersen said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Rather, let’s point a finger at the other batters: Kevin Pietersen

Instead, the 104-Test veteran stated that people should point fingers at the other batsmen who could hardly aggregate 100 runs in the six weeks they had been in the sub-continent. Notably, England passed 200 only twice in India out of eight innings and the lack of runs was the single most significant factor in their loss.

“Rather, let’s point a finger at the other batters, as some of them couldn’t even aggregate 100 runs in the six weeks that they have been here,” he added.

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