Pietersen picks Virat Kohli as the only entertainer in modern cricket

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen picked star Indian player Virat Kohli as the only entertainer of modern cricket at the moment. Pietersen, who was born in South Africa but played for England himself, is regarded as one of the most attractive players of all time, both, on the field as well as off the field.

Pietersen ended his own international career recently in the earlier part of this year and his 14-year old career consisted of 104 Tests, 136 One Day Internationals and 37 Twenty20 Internationals that included 32 international hundreds at an impressive and entertaining strike rate.

While talking to BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek, he said, “I really struggle to see entertainers in today's cricket, they’re lacking in the game. Virat Kohli is an exception, but otherwise pure entertainers and superstars are not present or seen in the game and that’s a big worry.”

He also recalled the earlier days of cricket as well when there were a lot of star players who attracted the fans and critics all around the cricket world. He included the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff, Muttiah Muralitharan, Curtly Ambrose, Matthew Hayden, Courtney Walsh, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Wasim Akram in this list while comparing them to the current players.

Pietersen also said that many of those former players do commentary for the sport nowadays but are not seen anywhere involved in the game to help the current or the upcoming talents of the game.

“You want those superstars attached to the franchises, national sides or academies so that youngsters get inspired to become those people,” he advised.

The former England international said that the boards of the respective cricketing nations should engage their former players more and assign them roles in the coaching staff or the administration department.

It is interesting to see that Pietersen himself is engaged in cricket commentary since he last played for England in 2014. He exclaimed that the former players have to be paid more to attract them from commentary to help the upcoming generation.