Struggling batsman but not struggling captain

Well the present England captain Andrew Strauss along with Kevin Pietersen have not been up to the mark as far as their series against Pakistan was concerned. It would be a bad idea to go into the details of both the batsmen's batting charts in the past few months with England having played Bangladesh twice prior to the present ongoing series against Pakistan. It need not be cited specially that a series or a match against a team like Bangladesh would hardly evoke any sort of interest among senior batsmen of the likes mentioned above. So would be the case involving West Indies.

A bad performance against a team like Bangladesh need not be due to lack of form or fitness but, it could also be owing to the lack of interest in facing a weak opposition like Bangladesh. Still, if the past one year or so is concerned for England, they have had series wins against Australia in the Ashes last year which is more than anything else. England have beaten Australia last year in the Ashes and this year in the finals of the world T20 held in the West Indies. These two triumphs go unparalleled. This happened in the presence of Andrew Strauss not to mention.

And coming to the test matches involving Pakistan, the scorecard suggests that the venues for the three matches that have taken place have been bowler friendly ones which is evident from the fact that Pakistan were bowled out for a score less than 100 on two occasions and that too consecutive ones. And for Strauss not to perform should not be taken too far for someone to justify their decision like the England coach - Gooch is found defending the inclusion of Strauss and Pietersen. Pietersen on the other hand has also been found doing a fab job for his team may be not in the recent past.

Whatsoever, Andrew Strauss has been a decent captain with wins against all major cricketing nations since he took over as the captain early last year for the series against West Indies. It should matter for as far as Strauss does a fab job as a captain, his performance as a batsman should not come under scrutiny. There can be other players who can step into the shoes of Strauss as a batsman but not as a captain. So would be the case with Kevin Pietersen who has a hard hitting ability which was evident in the world T20 and the IPL the preceded the same.