I would bat the same way I batted in Ashes 2013-14 if I get another chance, says Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen during his last Test match in Melbourne where he made 71 and 49

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, in his column for Telegraph, has admitted that he didn’t enjoy his last tour to Australia but will bat the same way if he is presented with another opportunity in the situation.

“On a personal note, I did not score the runs I would have liked in Australia but I have played a certain way throughout my career and will continue to do so. There is method to my batting but I play on instinct as well and I would absolutely play that way again if we could go back in time,” wrote Pietersen.

The manner of Pietersen’s dismissals during the Ashes whitewash was accused as irresponsible in the context of the game.

Defending his style of play, the 33-year-old further wrote: “In the first innings at Brisbane, I was caught at midwicket. As soon as the ball left Ryan Harris’s hand I thought ‘four’. I saw the angle and thought ‘bang it through midwicket’, but I got caught out. In the second innings, all I tried to do was help a short ball from Johnson to fine leg because it was too tight to pull, but I was caught again.

“In Adelaide, I walked out to the crease and felt like I did not know which side of the bat I was holding. I felt that terrible and that is why I was walking at Peter Siddle and playing him on the full. As soon as I was dismissed I walked out of the dressing room to the nets with Richard Halsall, the assistant coach, and spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how to bat again. I felt that bad, the worst I have ever experienced in an Ashes series.”

On what could have led to him batting that way, Pietersen, who is self-admittedly relieved to be out of England dressing room, said: “Why? I do not fully know. But my knee was hassling me a bit. I had an injection a few weeks before and during that innings it was hurting. In the dressing room everyone takes the mickey out of how I bend my knee during my stance because of how exaggerated the movement can be.”

“But in Adelaide, because of the knee pain, I was standing a lot taller in the crease and that changed my game. I said to Halsall and spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed, “I can’t bat like that again.” I had to work hard to get myself back to playing normally again. In the second innings I made 53 and played very responsibly,” revealed Pietersen about his problems with his knee that affected his time at the crease.

Another dismissal that sparked controversy during the series was his lofted shot against off-spinner Nathan Lyon, just when he was looking nailed on for a long haul at the crease, which was caught at long on.

“My dismissal in the second innings at Perth has received a lot of attention. I was caught at long on trying to hit Nathan Lyon for a second six. But if I see that ball again, I will still try to hit it for six. No problem. As he tossed it up I thought ‘six more there’. If you look at my career, that is how I play. People say it is irresponsible but it was not; it was successful.

Look at the innings that started it all off – the 158 against Australia in the 2005 Ashes at the Oval. I was hooking Brett Lee at 95mph into the stands. Any one of those shots could have gone straight up in the air and been caught. The 186 in Mumbai in 2012 is talked about as the best innings by a foreigner in India. I took risks during that hundred. I am England’s leading run scorer in all forms of cricket because of playing that way,” Pietersen, statistically the most successful English cricketer ever, puts forward an acceptable argument.

Despite being made the scapegoat for England’s Ashes debacle, he was still the team’s top-scorer for them in that series. He averages 44.75 in his last 3 years in Test cricket (from 1 Jan 2011 to end of his career).

“People say I should have ground it out. Should I? What would have been different?

“What I have done during my career is ignore the ridiculous praise and the ridiculous criticism. I have stayed even and been mentally strong enough to keep believing in my methods and what I think is the best way for me to be successful. It would have been easy for me to start defending a bit more. Would that have made me a better player? No. I am a risk-taker in cricket, in business and all parts of my life,” wrote Pietersen.