Well, the 30-year-olds troublesome hernia problem means England’s opening batsman in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 prematurely heads home.
The Surrey cricketer said he was “absolutely devastated” to leave the tournament, though the extent of Pietersen’s injury was there for all to see as he laboured in the field during the six-run win against South Africa on Sunday.
Pietersen (above) contemplates another spell on the sidelines.
As is the case, England are fortunate they have been able to call upon the mercurial batting exploits of Eoin Morgan, himself just back from injury, as his replacement.
The expected six-week injury lay-off will see Pietersen miss out on playing for the Deccan Chargers in the lucrative Indian Premier League, but England Coach Andy Flower has remained cautiously optimistic Pietersen will be fit and ready to return ahead of this summer’s home series versus Sri Lanka.
The England Cricket Boards secrecy in hiding the nature of Pietersen’s injury begs the question of whether there is more to the batsman’s demise in the sub-continent than first thought.
Before the World Cup, Pietersen had to sternly rebuff talk he was set to hang up his ODI gloves for good in a bid to prolong his Test Match career but this latest niggling injury only serves to rub salt in the wounds to a player – who in truth has been depleted of both runs and fitness in recent times.
The sheer workload of international cricket now means inevitable wear and tear for the modern cricketer, and perhaps ‘KP’ has suffered from playing too much.
Pietersen, who once topped the ODI batting rankings has had an unusually quiet few years giving the critics ammunition to suggest his England swansong is now over and that he is no longer the jewel to his countries crown.
Statistically talking though and some would disagree. It is all too easy to forget the remarkable feats the erstwhile Hampshire star chalked up left, right and centre towards the beginning of an international career – which in spells rewrote the cricketing record books.
The England batsman has not scored a ODI hundred since 2008.
But ever since he lost the prized captaincy of his country, Pietersen’s performance has dried up. When the South Africa-born player took up the reins from the outgoing Michael Vaughan in the summer of 2008, he started his tenure with aplomb – scoring a Test century in his debut match as Captain and then winning the subsequent One-Day series 4-0 against the country of his birth.
Fatigue and poor form with the bat since has seen Pietersen not score a ODI century for nearly three years, his last coming in Cuttack against India in 2008.
A succession of up and down series have followed suit, along with injuries.
Pietersen endured a serious Achilles problem in 2009 and many say he was rushed back into the first XI fold all too quickly.
The intricacies of Pietersen’s mediocre form are well documented, but his batting prominence in England’s maiden World T20 win and the majestic 227 he scored down under this winter underline his credentials.
Statistics aside, a greater analytical tool to examine Kevin Pietersen in 2011 is how opponents now do not seem overly concerned if he is playing or not. That trademark X factor style and fearless approach appears to have disappeared.
Although Pietersen’s career is nowhere near done in cricketing terms, if he ever wants to reignite the inroads he started to make into batting methodology, he needs to act now in what is a wading spotlight.
With the emergence of a strong and prosperous England team in the last two years, one of which that is more than content to do battle without Pietersen – the batsman needs to rediscover that cocky, self-confident and exceedingly positive self belief if he is to become his countries go-to-man ever again.
Whether or not jacking in the 50 over format of the game would help matters is questionable because if a fully fit and confident Pietersen rediscovers those lost gears – then he is well set to rub shoulders with the game’s elite once more.
Nonetheless with growing family commitments, millions in the bank and the fact England don’t necessarily need their one-time talisman like they once did, the bat is very much in Pietersen’s hands again for him to decide the next direction of a genuinely fascinating career.
