5 modern day cricket legends who prematurely resigned from captaincy

#5 Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen was England’s man of steel, a player who can change the game in one session

This South African-born English Player had one of the shortest stints as a captain of the national side. He led England in Tests and ODIs from 4th Aug 2008 to 7th Jan 2009 – three Test matches and nine ODIs. One of the key reasons cited for that at that time was a dispute he had with the then English coach Peter Moores.

Before this incident and otherwise, Pietersen enjoyed a legendary spell as an English Batsman. He was the fastest player to reach 4000, 5000 and 7000 runs in Test cricket. In July 2008, The Times called him “the most complete batsman in cricket”. In 2012, the Guardian called him “England’s greatest modern batsman”.

After enjoying such success, during the series against South Africa, he was awarded the captaincy after Michael Vaughan resigned due to his dip in form and England losing that Test Match.

In January 2009, after England’s loss to India, KP went public, mentioning an “unhealthy situation” in the England Camp, led by his and Coach Moore’s disagreement over various issues. On 7th January 2009, Moores was removed as England's coach by the ECB, and he unexpectedly resigned as captain.

Pietersen continued to play for England though and scored 8,181 runs in 104 Tests with an average of 47.28. His last contribution was 294 runs at an Average of 29 in the Ashes tour of 2013-2014 which England lost 5-0. Among the events after this disastrous series, he was not included in the next tour to West Indies and one of the reasons stated was his “nature of relationship” with the team management.

He released a statement which read "Although I am obviously very sad the incredible journey has come to an end, I'm also hugely proud of what we, as a team, have achieved over the past nine years."