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IND vs ENG 4th Test: England legend Kevin Pietersen has reignited the debate as he claimed that the state of batting and bowling in modern cricket is "way easier" than it was 20-25 years ago, pointing out a decline in the quality of bowling across Test-playing nations.

Pietersen's remarks followed hot on the heels of Joe Root’s masterful 150 on Day 3 of the Manchester Test. 

In a display of classical strokeplay and control, England's majestic batter powered England to reach 544 for 7 and ensure a 186-run lead over India.

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Root's 38th hundred in Test cricket placed him joint-fourth on the all-time list alongside Kumar Sangakkara and in doing so, he surpassed Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Ricky Ponting as the second-highest run-scorer in Test history - just behind legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

"Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then!,” Pietersen wrote on X on Saturday.

Pietersen, the mercurial England batter who amassed over 30,000 runs in international cricket, playing 104 Tests, 136 ODIs and 37 T20Is between 2005 and 2013, has always been as fiery with his opinions. The former right-handed batter said batting was “twice as hard back then”.

Pietersen gathered a pantheon of legendary bowlers from yesteryear, daring his fans to gather up a list of 10 modern equivalents. In his list, he emphasised the challenge of encountering bowling legends like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali, Curtley, Courtney and the list could go on and on...”

“I've named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern day bowlers that can compare to the names above?,” he added.

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