Former England captain Nasser Hussain feels Kevin Pietersen has removed all doubt about how good a player he is with the "clever" double hundred that has put his team in command of the ongoing first cricket Test against India here.
"If there was any doubt going into this game about how good a player Kevin Pietersen is, that innings has surely put it to bed," Hussain wrote in his column for 'The Daily Mail'.
"He's still got work to do in one-day cricket, but at Test level this was as clever an innings as you could hope to see. I know Zaheer Khan didn't make it onto the field on Friday, but you can only take on the bowlers you're up against and Pietersen took them on brilliantly," he added.
Hussain said India "simply couldn't outwit" Pietersen, who played strokes at will despite batting in tough conditions. "I also liked the way he virtually took the off-side out of the equation early on, as if to rule out caught behind or in the slips.
"They couldn't get him lbw and they couldn't get him caught behind. What else did they have to aim for? It must have been pretty demoralising to be an Indian bowler," he said. Hussain said Pietersen needs to apply himself similarly in one-day cricket. "Too often in recent times he's tried to rush to fifth gear and stay there, which is why he has made a few 30s and 40s but nothing more substantial.
{{/usCountry}}"They couldn't get him lbw and they couldn't get him caught behind. What else did they have to aim for? It must have been pretty demoralising to be an Indian bowler," he said. Hussain said Pietersen needs to apply himself similarly in one-day cricket. "Too often in recent times he's tried to rush to fifth gear and stay there, which is why he has made a few 30s and 40s but nothing more substantial.
{{/usCountry}}"But this innings was a reminder that if you pace yourself properly -- in any format of the game -- you can be tough to remove," he explained.