Pietersen and controversies

The next chapter in Pietersen’s autobiography is Pietersen and controversies.

KP starts this chapter with the 2012 tour of Sri Lanka. Prior to the start of the 2^nd Test, KP practiced exhaustively against the local net bowlers. With the weather being so hot in Sri Lanka alongwith it being humid, if at all KP has to score a hundred in that country, it needs to be quick because he is someone who sweat profusely. He just cannot grind in the middle because of that. Long story short, he scored a brilliant 151, not to mention it was quick too. At the end of the Sri Lankan series, KP spoke to Andy Flower about being rested for some of the games.

It is true that England do play a lot of Test matches but white-ball cricket is pretty much restricted. Infact, it is much less than what the Indians play. KP, being KP, asked Flower to rest him from certain games because he did not have the energy to play in every game. As usual, he came out of that meeting disappointed and depressed.

Come on, KP, just look at the Indians and analyse the number of games the Indian team plays. He admits that people would ask him to give up IPL but it is a fact that the players earn a lot of money in the IPL. I am all for it. The career of a sportsperson is too limited. If someone is lucky enough and good enough, he can play till the late 30s. Not everyone can achieve that. They have a family to support and a future to take care of. These sportspeople, do not know anything apart from the game. It is only fair they make as much as they can during their career.

The multiple outbursts

KP loved IPL and loved playing in India. He is also certain that there are players in the England dressing room who envy him and given a chance, they will jump at the opportunity of playing in the IPL. He only played half of the games for Delhi Daredevils and was off to England for a Test series against the West Indies. During the course of one of the Tests, he went to the dressing room and started to watch the Delhi game instead of watching the England game. He admits that he is embarrassed to think of it now and he should never have done that. Around the sametime, he got into another controversy where he questioned the commentary of Nick Knight. KP says that the whole England dressing room found Knight boring but he somehow managed to join the commentary group. Even Flower did not like Knight’s commentary.

However, it was KP alone who tweeted or rather questioned the choice of Nick Knight as the commentator. ECB was aghast and so was SkySports. They had a multi-million, multi-year contract. Sky told ECB that none of the players is allowed to question the commentator. ECB not wanting to jeopardise the relationship, fined KP 3000 GBP and a further 5000 GBP for future offences. This made Pietersen wonder what ECB did when Swann lambasted KP in his book. How was that alright for a fellow player to criticise another player in the team but not for him to question the commentator?

One more request to the ECB

Before the start of summer 2012, KP again went back to the ECB and requested them to release him from a few games citing workload. He gives a long list of the games that England were supposed to play that year. ECB refused which demoralised KP who announced his retirement from ODI cricket immediately.

ECB told him that he needs to play in both ODI and T20 or none at all. Hence, KP chose to retire. He didn’t contemplate to retire from Tests and concentrated only on IPL because playing for England, which has given him everything, was the pinnacle. The press and the media treated him unfairly for making his displeasure known. KP contrasts the attitude of the ECB with that of New Zealand cricket who have given their players a 5 weeks window in May to play in the IPL.

KP Genius

Back in 2012, just before the South African series, a new Twitter account, KP Genius gained prominence. It was run by none other than his teammates from inside the dressing room. Most of the tweets were insults or snide remarks about KP. This made him desolate and he contemplated retiring from the game altogether. He stopped talking to his teammates. When Andy Flower pulled him aside and asked him for the reason, KP completely broke down in front of him and said that he did not want to play for a team that did not respect him. This was understandable.

He cites the example of why he didn’t want James Taylor in the team and it should have been Eoin Morgan. Morgan refused to play in County when he was away in India despite Flower’s diktat. This angered Flower who picked Taylor instead of Morgan. Taylor wasn’t good enough against the bowling attack of South Africa. To prove KP correct, he was never picked again. KP made his observation to the coach in the dressing room.

Wrapping up Pietersen and controversies

Throughout his career, some bits and pieces about him have been leaked. Some by the ECB, some by the dressing room. It was really unfortunate. Towards the end of the series in 2012, he has had enough. He wanted to stop and he told the same to a few people which got down to the press. He addressed a press conference after scoring 149 which did not go well for him because in that press conference he mentioned about the dressing room environment though he stopped short of going into the details. In hindsight, he must have refused to address the press conference when his mind wasn’t clear. It is a shame that the one who created the KP Genius page was not punished for ridiculing and insulting a teammate in public and for others to follow that account.

Autobiography