Former Indian batter Parthiv Patel slammed Hardik Pandya after India suffered a 26-run loss in the third T20I against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot on Tuesday. Patel said a batter can not afford to take 20-25 balls to get settled in T20Is.

Pandya scored 40 runs off 35 balls when India was chasing 172 runs for the win. For the major part of the innings, Pandya scored his runs at less than run-a-ball as the hosts kept losing wickets at the other end at regular intervals.

Pandya managed a four and two sixes in his knock but failed to find his A-game towards the fag end of the innings.

Parthiv Patel said on Star Sports, “I thought when you are taking your time you want to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitch. But you cannot take 20-25 balls to get settled. So that put pressure on the other batters as well. If you don’t want to play those big shots, that’s okay, but you still have to keep on rotating the strike. You can’t play three or four dot balls in a row.”

Patel noted that Pandya played a lot of dot balls, which created pressure on the other batters as the required run rate kept rising.

“And you might just see Hardik Pandya scoring 40 off 34 balls, but there are a number of dots in his innings that put pressure on the other batters as well. So, I think that’s something that India can think of. You take your time. Yes, it’s a low score, but you still have to keep rotating the strike as well with it.”

The fourth T20I between India and England will take place at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Friday.