Pietersen uncowered by Indian spinners

Mohali, March 9 (UNI) England's day one hero in the second Test Kevin Pietersen made it clear that neither was he bogged down by the reputation of the celebrated Indian spinners, nor was he ready to let them dictate terms.

After his brilliant 64-run knock guided England to a modest 163 for four, after tottering at 36 for two at one stage, Pietersen revealed his philosophy to batting.

''Against the spinners, I do not want them to dictate me. In fact I think I should have played more positively against Shane Warne in the Ashes series,'' he said.

Along with Ian Bell, Pietersen stitched together an 81-run stand for the third wicket in the rain-truncated day to stem the rot but the mercurial batsman was clearly unhappy at missing on yet another century that seemed up for grabs.

''I am not happy the way I got out at Nagpur and also here in Mohali,'' said Pietersen who drove Munaf Patel to give the debutant pacer his maiden Test wicket after scoring 64 which included 10 fours and a six.

Pietersen was unlucky in Nagpur as well where he fell 13 runs short of a ton in England's second innings.

On the wicket at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here, the English bat said, ''At one end, the ball skids a bit more but still I think it's still a good wicket to bat on.'' ''We are looking to a 400-plus score in the first innings here,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Indian opener Wasim Jaffar said the hosts had seized the initiatives, sending back four frontline english batsmen.

''We are in a good position having dismissed four England batsmen for 163 runs. Half of the job is already done,'' he said.

Deriving confidence from his Nagpur ton, a humble Jaffar, however, refused to describe himself as the answer to India's search for Virender Sehwag's permanent partner at the top of the innings.

''Of course, that knock is very important for me as I performed under pressure and it was need of the hour for the team. But I don't say that I have solved the opening batsman's position. It is too early to say,' he added.

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