ENG vs IND 2018: Kevin Pietersen suggests dropping Stuart Broad and Keaton Jennings

Both Broad and Jennings underperformed against India.

Pietersen thinks England should drop both Jennings and Broad. | Getty

Having seen them both substantially underperform in the just concluded five-match Test series between England and India, former three lions' batsman Kevin Pietersen has suggested captain Joe Root to consider dropping both Stuart Broad and Keaton Jennings for the betterment of his side going forward. 

While Jennings struggled to get going at all as an opener, Broad got less than the expected number of wickets from him in a long home series. The former scored just 163 runs at 18.11 across 9 innings, Broad picked up 16 wickets but they came at an average of 29.69, which in context that James Anderson and Ishant Sharma picked 24 wickets at 18.12 and 18 wickets at 24.28 respectively, is an underachievement. 

There is a genuine line of thought that Broad, England's second highest wicket-taker, is not the same force anymore. It is also opined that with the three lions' needing to groom fast bowlers for the future, they should consider not taking him on the tour of Sri Lanka later this year. 

Speaking to talkSPORT, Kevin Pietersen assessed the situation around the two players and said, "Jennings can't bat, I'm sorry, They are going to have to find somebody else. Cook is a big loss. I know he has been wishy-washy over the last couple of months but he finished on a fairytale ending, which is brilliant for him but to replace that kind of guy at the top of the order, it is going to be difficult." and added, "I just don't see county cricket producing Test cricketers at the moment. The issue is deep-rooted. All the best players in the world now are not playing county cricket. They are earning their cash in franchise cricket."

"Therefore, the standard of county cricket isn't great, the standard of county batsmen is poor, and it is causing a massive issue in cabs on the rank for batting places."

Pietersen also gave his opinion on Broad, and said, "I would have dropped him last winter. He doesn't perform that well away from home, He had one good Ashes series and what he delivered for England in the big Ashes series last year was hopeless."

"I've been on tours of the sub-continent [with England], he doesn't like touring the sub-continent, so it wouldn't surprise me and it would be a very good move if they dropped him." he added. 

With England's 3-Tests series in Sri Lanka starting November 6, it would be interesting to see where both Broad and Jennings stand in selectors' plans for that tough tour as well as the future. 

(Inputs from SPORTSTAR Live)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 14 Sep, 2018

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