LONDON, Nov 24: English media on Monday came down hard on Kevin Pietersen and his men for losing the seven-match series due to lack of ideas and said they should now approach the remaining matches keeping the 2011 World Cup in Asia in mind.
Leading British newspaper ‘Daily Telegraph’ felt the visitors were stubborn with their approach while also being “short of solutions” to lose four games in a row and lose the series at the earliest opportunity.
“England bowed out of this one-day series as they began, outplayed, outwitted, and out of ideas,” the paper wrote after England lost at Bangalore in a rain-marred day/night match decided by the Duckworth/Lewis method.
“To lose four games over a seven-match series in India would not be unusual for many visiting teams, but to lose four in a row, even if two of them did involve the arcane Duckworth-Lewis method, suggests a side long on inflexibility and short of solutions,” it added.
Another top daily ‘The Times’ noted that the England team had repeated their failure of last visit to India and advised Pietersen and Co to use the remaining three matches to make notes for the 2011 World Cup to be hosted by Asian nations.
“England have repeated their failure here of two years ago in losing the series at the earliest opportunity, 4-0 down... England must now use the remainder of the series to learn with the 2011 World Cup in mind, and try to gain some confidence ahead of the Test matches,” it said.—Agencies