New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) All-rounder Ben Stokes has to bat higher up in the order for England in T20Is, said former England captain Kevin Pietersen.

Stokes batted at No.5 or No.6 throughout England's five-match T20I series in India which ended in a 2-3 defeat for the visitors.

He ended up not batting in the first and third matches while scoring 24, 46 and 14 in the other games.

"Ben Stokes is completely wasted at No. 6 as a batter and bowling part time. Bairstow in T20's is an opener. If he doesn't open, Stokes bats 4!" Pietersen tweeted.

India scored an imposing 224/2 on Saturday, buoyed by captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's 94-run opening partnership. Kohli ended the innings unbeaten on 80 off 52 balls. In reply, England looked capable of challenging the total during opener Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan's 130-run partnership for the second wicket.

However, fast bowler Shardul Thakur then took three wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar's spell, in which he took two wickets for just 15 runs, stifled the visitors for runs. England ended their innings on 188/8, thus handing India a 36-run win.

--IANS rkm/arm