Kevin Pietersen - Wrong or Wronged?

February 21, 2004, turned out to be a typical hot Indian summer's day, where people across the country were bracing themselves for temperatures to soar to record levels. It was also the day when the writer was transfixed by a sparkling saga of bewitching shots from the 23-year-old, Kevin Pietersen, that set the ground on fire and left the opposition bowlers in a state of complete daze.

Rarely had one seen the willow thwack the leather to the boundary boards at a faster clip. The stamp of this gifted artist's batsmanship could be seen by the fact that on a track, where the rest of the batsmen succumbed to the subtle variations of drift and fine control over flight by South Zone's Ramkrishnan Ramkumar and Sunil Joshi, Pietersen brandished his willow like a colossal figure to explore every nook and corner of the ground.

More than a decade has gone by since Pietersen compiled those two crunching hundreds in a First-Class game for England 'A' against South Zone at Gurgaon. With confident strides, the Pietermaritzburg-born batsman went onto become one of the stars of the cricketing fraternity with knocks that evoked gasps of jaw-dropping amazement. He gave boundless joy to fans, who came from far and wide and made a beeline entry into the stadiums to watch the willowy-wielder take on the best in the business.

In fact, Pietersen's innings against a Steve Harmison-led Durham's attack at Chester-le-Street in 2001, at The Oval against Australia in 2005, against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 2005, slog-sweeping a bewildered looking Anil Kumble from the rough at Nagpur in 2006, switch-hitting Muttiah Muralitharan at Edgbaston in 2006, standing alone against what seemed like the wrath of seething waves lashing rugged rocks in Australia in 2006-07, or playing with an unrestrained sense of bravado at Colombo (PSS), Leeds and Mumbai in 2012, can be captured in a a gilt-edged frame and kept with you forever.

However, Pietersen's career was also riddled with controversies. Finally, the star batsman, was unceremoniously sacked from England's set-up after The Ashes 2013-14 debacle. It is unfortunate but true that instead of paying rich tributes to the highest run-getter for England across all formats, all cricket fans and scribes are nowadays, discussing about his autobiography. It is an autobiography, where he has slammed the bullying by some of his former England colleagues, existence of cliques and accused former coach, Andy Flower, of "ruling by fear".

It is difficult to comment on a subject related to dressing atmosphere, as we are talking about unknown factors. It also has to be said that with a group of 15-20 players constantly touring and playing all through the year, there would be frictions, and when a team starts losing, it leads to a fractious dressing room. Now, that is where the man-management comes into play and going by what Pietersen has said, the England backroom staff failed to nip those frictions in the bud. Ironically, England have a burgeoning coaching staff to take care of such matters.

There would be those who will defend Flower by bringing up the fact that under him, England won so many games and they were successful. But it is the players, who play in the middle, who win you games and not coaches. England won mainly on the back of having a skilled group of good or very good players.

To start with, to allow the Parody Twitter Account, 'KP Genius,' to run as long as it did when it was crystal clear that it would create problems just doesn't make much sense. To make it worse, Richard Bailey, who ran the account is presumably a friend of England's players, Stuart Broad, Alex Hales and Graeme Swann. Pietersen on his part, accused them of feeding Bailey with information.

Former England cricketer, Alec Stewart, known for his integrity confirmed he was told by Bailey that cricketers, Swann, Broad, and Tim Bresnan had access to the Parody Kevin Pietersen Twitter account.

Stewart said that he was approached by Bailey during the Test against South Africa at the Oval. "I said to him some of it [the account] was very funny and that he had got some good information." Bailey said, 'Yes, I do.' He continued by saying, 'Can you keep a secret?' I said, "It depends. He went away and then came back and named three players who had access to the account password," according to a Daily Telegraphreport.

Stewart further said: "If that was the case it did not sit well with me. I passed it on to the ECB and it was up to them how they dealt with it. I was doing it for the good of the England team and how the hierarchy dealt with it was up to them but I felt they had to be made aware of it."

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) did say that they investigated the matter and they were satisfied none of the players were involved. But when the person who ran the Twitter Account comes up and says to a former player that three of those players mentioned had access to it then, one wonders whether ECB thoroughly investigated the matter or not.

Of course, there is the sub plot of Pietersen's text-gate controversy, where Pietersen was accused of sending derogatory texts to South African cricketers on England captain, Andrew Strauss, after the Test match played against South Africa at Leeds.

Intriguingly, Pietersen, in his book has reportedly said that he didn't use the word 'doos' to describe his captain. It comes across more like the 'South African cricketer' sent messages that were offensive related to Strauss and KP went with the flow of the discussion. If true, it yet again sparks of double standards. How can those cricketers, who presumably had access to Twitter account of 'KP Genius' be let off so easily, but Pietersen, the best batsman in the side thrown out of the team without exactly knowing the contents of the messages? Yes, we are going as per Pietersen's version here, but looking at how ECB treated their star player before, it seems to some extent believable.

Now, jog your memory back to 2008-09 when there was the infamous Pietersen-Peter Moores saga which led to both men losing their jobs as captain and coach, respectively. As per Pietersen's accounts, he was asked about how he would take the team forward and he responded to it diligently. He also wrote that it was hard for him to envisage taking the team forward with Moores as the coach. However, before a meeting was to be held with board members, the content of his plans were leaked.

Former England opener, Dennis Amiss, who was the vice-chairman of ECB at that time confirmed they didn't believe Pietersen leaked information. He said, "We don't believe Kevin Pietersen leaked the information, we understand his frustration at it being leaked by other parties."

In 2012, Pietersen was fined for his Twitter outburst over his comments on Nick Knight, the commentator. On the other side, Swann wasn't fined for his criticism over Samit Patel's lack of fitness in his autobiography, 'The Breaks are Off'. Remember, Samit was then a part of England's ODI and even Test set-up.

There is also a talk that Pietersen went hammer and tongs at young batsman, James Taylor's technique, after he compiled a well-measured innings of 34 against South Africa at Leeds. However, by the looks of it, Pietersen only had a private conversation with Flower and it was for the umpteenth time leaked to the media.

"No. Never. But I know what you're getting at. You're talking about James Taylor. Because there's this lie out there that I rubbished him in front of the team. It's not true. I spoke to Andy Flower about him. It was a private conversation. It was a senior player talking to the coach in private. I expressed my views when asked. To have private conversations turned into a media story on Monday morning that I was ridiculing James Taylor in the dressing room is ridiculous. Has anyone bothered to ask him if it's true?" Pietersen was quoted as saying in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

In short, the ECB just don't seem to have any valid reason as to why they sacked him after the Ashes 2013-14. Actually, even after the Ashes series ended, some fringe players in the camp said that they didn't find Pietersen doing much wrong in the series.

A few months before Pietersen came up with his much-talked about autobiography, Paul Downton, the Managing Director of ECB said: "I watched every ball of the Sydney Test and I have never seen a man as disengaged from what was going on as Kevin was."

Downton also complained regarding Pietersen fielding only at the boundary line instead of his customary fielding position - gully, during the Ashes Down Under. But, it was pretty much clear that Pietersen was struggling with his knee problems and it would have been difficult for him to flex his knees at gully.

There was even a suggestion that Pietersen wanted to quit the ill-fated tour of Australia after the WACA Test. Well, with the kind of knee problems he had, he must have been in severe pain and agony yet, Pietersen did play all five Tests. He was also England's best batsman, despite being well short of his high standards. For Pietersen, knee is a key part of his game, as he likes to be constantly on the move at the crease.

Some of Pietersen's shots especially, the one he played at WACA off Nathan Lyon's bowling which saw him lose his wicket was heavily criticised by critics. With England in a precarious position, Pietersen, with twinkling footwork, came down the wicket and lofted the off-spinner only to be caught by Ryan Harris at long-on.

Pietersen is an aggressive batsman and when he gets to the pitch of the ball, he would naturally feel like going with the shot. It also has to be said that his way of playing is to smother the spin and then use the crease. He did everything right with the shot other than it ending up in the stands. If that felicitous stroke had ended up in the stands, those critics would have likely been applauding the shot.

Each batsman has his own method and if for a defensive batsman, the first instinct is to perhaps show measured judgement outside the off-stump then, for an aggressive batsman, it is to play shots at every given opportunity. There was method and conviction attached to the shot that Pietersen tried, as it wasn't like some agricultural hoick played across the line.

Even if that particular shot has to be criticised, as the situation didn't demand it, then why did those detractors baying for his blood, ignore the half-hearted pokes by some of his colleagues and that too on a fifth stump line? Now, were those supposedly rock-solid defensive batsmen doing their job properly by poking at deliveries which could have been easily left alone?

Yes, for an outsider, it is hard to comment on Pietersen's bullying allegations, where he said that fielders were forced to apologise to bowlers, if they dropped a catch or misfielded. Yet, there are a few incidents that comes to the writer's mind during the ICC World Cup 2011. There was an intense game played between England and South Africa at Chennai, where the fielders seemed to be always under the pump from the wicket-keeper, Matt Prior.

The counter argument can always be if someone from short mid-wicket flings the ball at the stumps unnecessarily and it goes for four overthrows, a few would be bursting with anger. Here we are thinking about Pietersen's throw at the stumps off Bresnan's bowling in the game against South Africa and Hashim Amla, the batsman benefiting from it with four runs to his kitty, as a result of overthrows.

Now, the writer isn't trying to imply that Pietersen is some superhero and rest of them were villains. But the more you think of it, the more you believe he was shabbily treated. The sad part of all this is we won't see those heroic deeds full of breathtaking stroke-play to slash the opposition to pieces from Pietersen's meaty willow at the highest level anymore. The man who shielded England's batting line-up for many years and put bums on seats for the authorities to mint money deserved better.