Kevin Pietersen: A classic case of mistiming

Kevin Pietersen

After the disastrous 2013-14 Ashes campaign in Australia, England took one of the most bizarre decisions ever to have been taken in international cricket arena in recent times, more bizarre than Stuart Binny’s selection in the Indian Test side to tour England: to end Kevin Pietersen’s career after he emerged as the side’s leading run scorer in his last series.

Of course, in a general case scenario, it is only fair to fire someone from the team who averages 29.40 in his last 10 innings. However, on this occasion, was he their worst?

Pietersen, in his last Ashes match at Melbourne, scored 71 and 49 out of his team total of 255 and 179. He did throw his wicket away but only in an attempt to score more for his team as he was running out of partners.

It doesn’t matter if he is in his prime or not; Pietersen was someone who loved to take on the bowling irrespective of the stature of the bowler he was up against, just like Virender Sehwag. But the sad part was that was what exactly led to their ouster from the team: style of play. Even though both bat at different positions, they can be associated for their risky shot selections.

Sehwag, as an opener, tries to unsettle the bowlers by going after them, finding gaps through the crowded covers. On the other hand, Pietersen tries to dominate the bowlers to score quick runs with his strokes, and one cannot predict what he has lined up next.

There is a difference, though. Sehwag is someone who takes on the attack to the opposition with his scintillating off-side strokeplay and often finds the fielders waiting at deep-point and third man, if not cover point. Pietersen, with a shuffle, will try to look for shots that are not even in the book, thereby making his innings look ugly at times.

Inventor of switch-hit and a master of shots over extra-cover, Pietersen, in the middle order, is a threat to any team. After pushing the opposition to their limits by his shots, Pietersen forces them to be defensive to keep the runs down, making full use of the semi-new ball when he walks in. He could have been a lot better if not for his Achilles’ heel: the left-arm spinners.

The problem is not just that; when he loses his timing and gets dismissed, his shots look reckless and not in team’s best interests. It is the way he has batted all along, and it is how he has won hearts. Critics call it irresponsible, but, to Pietersen, it is positive stroke making.

Sehwag, on the other contrary, often wasted his starts, and since 1 Jan 2011, the Nawab of Najafgarh, averaging 28.62 in his last 18 Test matches, has just one hundred to his name.

During the same period, Pietersen was still at his best at an average of 44.75 with 6 hundreds scoring 2551 runs from 34 matches. That includes a 202* at the Lord’s and an 186 in Mumbai, both against India. The knocks were then rated very highly by the same England Board who made the call to end his career abruptly.

Despite starting off the just concluded edition of the Indian Premier League with a series of disappointing dismissals, Pietersen found form towards the latter stages scoring 236 runs in his last six innings for Delhi Daredevils as captain.

Had he not mistimed a few of those he did during his last international tour, he would have ended up in history books as the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs. It was all eventually down to that: mistimed shots. Had he instead went on to make them big, the ECB wouldn’t have made him the scapegoat.

With him already started writing for the Telegraph as a cricket columnist, he will have some more opportunities to counter the ECB’s unsubstantiated claims of him being a disruptive influence in the dressing room. But there is no doubt that Kevin Pietersen is a loss for cricket.

Good luck KP for your new career.