'India is playing with just one fast bowler' - Parthiv Patel, Kevin Pietersen question host's tactics in England T20I series

The India vs England T20I series is alive after the visitors went on to win the third T20I in Rajkot. The next game will be played on Friday, January 31 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) stadium in Pune which could either be the decider of the series or England can win the game to make the last and final game in Mumbai the determiner.

Though India is currently leading the series by 2-1 there are some experts who are critical of the tactics of the Indian team after the disappointing performance in Rajkot. Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel opened up on some of the errors mentioning that the hosts are missing the trick by picking only one specialist fast bowler in the playing XI. He believes there should be a third seamer considering the onslaught of Liam Livingstone who went after Ravi Bishnoi and made sure England put up a decent total on the board in the third match.

Also Read: Aakash Chopra raises concerns over Mohammed Shami's return to Indian cricket squad

“India is playing with just one fast bowler. You went with four spinners which worked in favour of Liam Livingstone. He went after them and scored runs. If another pacer was there in the Playing XI, it would have been easy to target Liam. India is missing a trick,” said Patel on Star Sports. 

Even former England cricketer and 2010 T20 World Cup winner Kevin Pietersen agreed with Parthiv’s statement bringing up how Livingstone was finally dismissed by Hardik Pandya after smashing Bishnoi all around the park at the Niranjan Shah Stadium. 

“Parthiv is making a good point. After hitting fours and sixes, Livingstone was finally dismissed by Hardik Pandya, and that is why Parthiv said that another pacer in the team would have been good for the Indian team,” said the legendary England batter. 

The first two T20Is saw India using left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh who took three wickets in the first two games before being rested for the third game where he was replaced by Mohammed Shami who was making his return to international cricket after 15 months. The Bengal pacer was off-colour, giving away 25 runs in three overs without scalping a wicket.