England skipper Ben Stokes received plenty of appreciation after successfully leading his side to a convincing 3-0 victory against New Zealand. Many experts and former cricketers also praised his leadership qualities after England gained an upper hand against India in the Birmingham Test. Though, Stokes had to face some criticism for his style of batting against India. Kevin Pietersen recently slammed Stokes for displaying “reckless batting” in the first innings against India.
Pietersen, who was commentating on Sky Sports, expressed his disappointment as he feels Stokes was not defending his wicket.
“I was just watching Ben Stokes there for 10 minutes, and that little passage of play where he ran down the wicket and slogged one straight up in the air. He ran down the wicket again and he slogged it straight to mid-off, dropped catch. This is reckless batting. This is not defending your wicket,” Pietersen was quoted by Wisden.
“This is not protecting what we call the value of your wicket as a batter, because Test match hundreds are valuable commodities. And when you get a Test match hundred it means a hell of a lot, because of the stress and the tension and the patience and the discipline that goes into it,” he added.
Stokes, in the first innings, heaved a big sigh of relief after he was dropped by Shardul Thakur off Mohammad Shami’s bowling early in the innings. Stokes did not seem to learn anything from his mistake as he received one more lifeline two overs later. Indian skipper Jasprit Bumrah dropped an easy catch off Shardul Thakur’s delivery as Stokes was granted another survival. His innings came to an end eventually in the same over after Bumrah pulled off a spectacular catch.
Stokes smashed three boundaries during his short stint at the crease. He could eventually manage to score 25 runs off 36 balls in the first innings. A change in his batting style has been visible since being appointed as the captain of the England Test side. His strike rate has been above 80 in six innings so far this summer.
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