"KP=Keep Playing"

“Clearly when you lose a player of that calibre in a short format where he’s proven to be a mighty fine player it is disappointing”. - Alistair Cook was disappointed with the sudden decision taken by team-mate Pietersen to call it a day from the limited overs cricket.

ECB’s decision that centrally contracted players should either be available for both the forms of limited overs cricket or none made sure that Pietersen won’t take part in the upcoming World T20 championship. KP, the man of the tournament in 2010 ICC World T20 and played a major role in England winning the trophy, said that he would have loved to continue playing T20 cricket but for the decision of ECB, he won’t be able to. With four months left for the T20 World Cup, it has come as a shocking decision for the defending champions. The only good news for the fans of KP is that he will be available for tests.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was quoted saying “All these years we have watched him playing unconventional shots with ease. As we enjoyed to see him bat, though not much as opposition, he enjoyed his batting”.

The inventor of SWITCH-HIT, one of the most controversial but effective shots in cricketing history, KP played this shot with relative ease against spinners and even some medium pacers.

With an average of 41.84 in ODIs and scoring 4184 runs in 127 matches, KP is one of the most attacking batsmen to have ever played for England. He made his debut in the 2005 ashes where he made a huge contribution in the return of the Ashes to England. He finished as the leading run scorer in the series scoring 473 runs at an average of 52.55. He was named both the ICC ODI Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year in 2005 and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He is the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 and 2,000 runs in ODIs and holds the record for scoring the fastest century by an English player. He even scored 5,000 test runs in the fastest time.

Fans of KEVIN PIETERSEN are all in hope that he SWITCH HITS this retirement decision of his and keep playing all three formats of the game.