Pietersen calls for more aggression

England captain Kevin Pietersen has called on his players to show some mettle in the second one-day international against India…

England captain Kevin Pietersen has called on his players to show some mettle in the second one-day international against India in Indore.

Pietersen wants more from his players after the humiliating 158-run defeat to India in the first ODI at Rajkot.

Pietersen believes his side did not go into the opening game with the right attitude and were made to pay by India.

He wants his players to show a more aggressive attitude, like Australia, with the defeat by India coming soon after the disappointment of losing the Stanford Twenty20 to a West Indies All Stars team.

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Pietersen, writing in his column in the News of the World, said of the Rajkot defeat: "We were not as aggressive as we usually are and our body language was wrong.

"We have to be more like the Australians and get in their faces in every aspect of the game — bowling, batting and fielding.

"It doesn't mean sledging the opposition, it is just a state of mind and means being positive in everything we do — and we didn't do that in the first game.

"It is a case of sticking your chest out getting into India, really hitting them hard, which we didn't do on Friday and they thrashed us. It was hard to take.

"There is a lot of mediocrity that people settle for in England in terms of the county cricket and the comfort zones of international cricket.

"But I am not one for settling for mediocrity, that is far from my thoughts."