Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has found himself on the receiving end for being too blunt and honest without any fielders during the second Ashes Test at Lord's this week. After an angry rant on Day 1 of the Test match, Pietersen called for more fuming reactions on himself by suggesting that injured Australian spinner Nathan Lyon came to bat so that he could get hit on his head, get concussed and the visitors could call someone like Todd Murphy as concussion substitute.
“Imagine if he (Lyon) had been hit on the head and got a concussion, he’d have got a like-for-like replacement and a world-class spinner (Murphy), based on how he performed in India, it gives food for thought,” Pietersen said on Sky Sports.
Lyon, who suffered a calf injury during the first innings, is ruled out of the Lord's Test as far as his bowling is concerned and probably the whole series. While Pietersen didn't accuse Australia of any such plan but his theory was termed distasteful and obscene by users on Twitter.
Now responding to Pietersen's comment, Lyon said it was a conversation in poor taste since he and the whole Australian team lost one of their teammates, Phil Hughes, to concussion after he was hit on his head during Sheffield Shield.
“I have heard comments that people thought I went out there to get hit in the head and I’m really against that because I’ve lost one of my mates due to being hit in the head. So I think that’s a really poor excuse or conversation being had,” Lyon said.
Lyon courageously came out to bat while limping as not just the Australian team and fans but their counterparts too lauded the veteran spinner's bravery. Lyon scored four runs before Australia were bowled out for 279. In the chase of 371 runs, England are 114/4 and needed 257 runs to win on the final day.
