Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen sharply criticized Shreyas Iyer’s batting, labeling his performance as “sloppy” and expressing a desire for players in his team to display greater hunger.

“Listen, when Kohli comes back and other guys come back [KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja] and these are the days these boys are going to look back and go, ‘oh why did I not get a hundred? I had the opportunity to get the hundred’. And when you are sloppy like that, getting out doesn’t impress me at all,” Pietersen said on Jio Cinema

“You got to really grab the game by the scruff of its neck and say I am not letting go here. I am afraid to say with Shreyas it all seems a bit too sloppy. Sloppy is the word.”

Iyer made 27 from 59 balls, before under-edging an intended cut to the wicketkeeper off the left-arm spinner Tom Hartley. It was a knock noticeable for his odd approach against pace and spin.

Kevin Pietersen ” From Shreyas Iyer point of view.He must be disappointed.Soft dismissals are horrible. You have to be hungry, grab those opportunities and show more intent. It seems sloppy from Iyer.When Kohli will come back he will wonder why he didn’t get those 💯.”#INDvENG… pic.twitter.com/DcDK6FsCK6

— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) February 2, 2024

Facing James Anderson on a slow, batting-friendly pitch, Shreyas Iyer initially managed to pull off some shots against the bouncers, keeping the ball down. However, he altered his approach by shuffling outside leg to flat-bat it to the off side, which didn’t prove successful. On his first attempt, he almost dragged the ball onto his stumps with an inside edge, eliciting amusement from a couple of England players, including Ollie Pope.

“When he is facing up to the bowler, he is jogging his leg out to leg side and then comes back to just defend the ball. You go to show some more intent than leg out there.

If you really want to make a go and put pressure on the bowler, this (gestures the leg-side shuffling movement) doesn’t put the pressure on the bowler. It does nothing to the bowler. You got to show more intent.” Pietersen added.

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