‘You’re Sitting In Your Lounge’: Kevin Pietersen Lashes Out At Ben Stokes’ Critics, Backs English Skipper’s Antics Amid ‘Spirit Of Cricket’ Debate

IND vs ENG: The ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series has been hard-fought so far. All the four completed Test matches of this series were decided on the fifth and the final day, a spectacle that has become very rare, especially in the day and age of T20 cricket. England are already 2-1 ahead in this ongoing five-match Test series, but a win in Manchester would have guaranteed that the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy stays back on English soil.

England skipper Ben Stokes has been nothing but absolutely phenomenal in the series so far, barring the last few minutes of the recently concluded Manchester Test match. Stokes, despite battling niggles, claimed a fifer and scored a century in the Manchester Test, but all of it resulted in nothing as India successfully ended up drawing the fourth Test that was being played at Old Trafford.

Drama heightened at Old Trafford as Ben Stokes offered to shake hands with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to call the game off. Interestingly, both Jadeja and Sundar were at a touching distance from their respective centuries. Both Jadeja and Sundar turned down the handshake, but emotions had already gotten the better of Stokes and what followed later doesn’t really qualify under what the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ stands for.

A frustrated Ben Stokes asked his part-time bowlers Harry Brook and Joe Root to bowl at Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. After the match, Stokes said that he was not willing to risk the fitness of his frontline bowlers as India were playing for a draw. Despite all the criticism, Ben Stokes has now found some support in Kevin Pietersen who has backed the English players. Pietersen lashed out at Stokes’ critics in a tweet that he shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).

After the culmination of the fourth Test match of the series, Ben Stokes was specifically asked about the injury replacement rule and how feasible it is in the context of the longest format of the game.

Without mincing words, the English skipper said that the rule has too many loopholes and the conversation around it should completely be shut down.