Kevin Pietersen has plenty to prove to detractors
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Satish Bate/Hindustan Times/Getty Images
Kevin Pietersen is facing his first spell of criticism as England captain, with his side three down to India and only four one-day internationals to play, writes Michael Henderson in the Telegraph.
He [Pietersen] started well, and may yet surprise those people who are not entirely convinced by a manner that does its best to conceal doubt. But there are obvious fault lines, and they are becoming more apparent with each loss. The most important player in the side, Andrew Flintoff, has not always cared for his captain. Even the dogs in the street know that. That cannot help Pietersen because Flintoff enjoys the public acclaim that he lacks, for reasons that hardly require amplification. Flintoff, a match-winner in the heroic mould, is manifestly a team man, as was Ian Botham before him. He may enjoy the benefits that come with stardom, but those are incidental.
In the Guardian, Barney Ronay ponders the solution to England's biggest problem on the tour of India so far.
Ian Botham, in particular, seems flummoxed by England's inability to grasp this simple truth. It's as though all along England have been insisting that you've got to get Yuvraj late, or even not get Yuvraj at all. Or they've been putting off getting Yuvraj and doing other things instead, only to realise it's five o'clock in the afternoon and they're still in their dressing gowns surrounded by Irn-Bru cans, eating pickled onions out of the jar and watching Lionel Richie videos on YouTube. With a nagging sense that there was someone they should have got early... Oh dear. Yuvraj.
Until last month Yuvraj Singh was widely regarded around the world as a clean hitter unlikely to contribute when the ball was wobbling around or flying past his nostrils. In short, he fell short of the standard required by those seeking accreditation as Test match batsmen, writes Peter Roebuck in the Hindu.
Sourav Ganguly’s retirement provided an opening for contenders. It was up to them to state their case. At the start of these one-day matches, Yuvraj was an outsider. Badrinath had been the squad’s reserve batsman and Murali Vijay had made an accomplished first appearance in Nagpur. Yuvraj had to produce something special. Fifties and sixes and a few wickets was not going to force the selectors’ hand. Nor could he rely on a single scintillating innings. He had to show consistency and authority. Yuvraj accepted the challenge, pushing his case with two significant hundreds and handy work with the ball.
At the age of 30 and with a decade of international cricket behind him Andrew Flintoff would be forgiven for thinking that it was time his fellow fast bowlers began to share the burden of carrying England's attack in one-day cricket, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
The introduction of a batting Powerplay has removed the slightly more relaxed period from Flintoff's day. As England's best bowler he now bowls when the slog is on at the start, when the slog is on during the batting Powerplay and when the final slog is on between overs 45 and 50. It is little wonder that Flintoff walked off at Rajkot and Indore shaking his head and looking rather flustered. On most days Flintoff will have done well to concede less that 60 runs.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo