Former England batter Kevin Pietersen reviewed his team’s performance on day one of the first Test against India which got underway in Hyderabad on January 25, 2024. His main concern was the visitors’ spin bowling, which failed to keep India's batters in check.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (76*) looked in good form as he hit a half-century, and India were 119/1 after bowling England out for 246 on day one. Jaiswal seemed particularly comfortable against England's spin combination of Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, and Rehan Ahmed, scoring the majority of his runs against them.

Pietersen said that the spinners are his 'big concern' and he does not see them 'out bowling' their Indian counterparts.

"My big concern is England's spinners. I said it before the series. When we won here in 2012, we had Swann and Panesar, who outbowled Ashwin, Harbhajan, and Pragyan Ojha. Unfortunately, from what I have seen here today, I can't see these three spinners outbowling Indian spinners. I just didn't see the ball spin enough. A couple of balls, they got to spin," Kevin Pietersen said while speaking on Sports18.

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"But England spinners just never got the border spin. Yes, they weren't allowed to spin it because Yashasvi Jaiswal was hitting it. But also you only need one ball to spin or two balls to spin. They just couldn't get into spin. You contrast that with India. First of all, we thought, Oh, here we go. Next ball. Then we get the ball to bounce. Then we get the ball to spin. Then another one bounces. We just didn't see that with the England spinners," Pietersen added.

India ended the day on 119/1 with Rohit Sharma being the lone wicket to fall, to Jack Leach. Earlier, England was bundled out for 246 after Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl. Stokes top-scored with 70, while Indian spin twins Jadeja and Ashwin took three wickets each.

(PTI inputs)