JOIN USKevin Pietersen has come under sharp attack in the 150th edition of the Wisden Almanack, which has described the star batsman’s behaviour as “arrogant” during South Africa-England series last year when the SMS saga led to his ouster from the national side.
Lawrence Booth, in his Notes by the Editor, said the big money which Pietersen had secured with his contract to play in IPL, made him courageous enough to not honour his contractual obligations.
Interestingly, Pietersen has missed out on playing this year’s IPL due to injury. “Cricket, some suspected, existed only as an extension of Pietersen’s whims (and unlike team, cricket definitely has an “I” in it). Emboldened by a lucrative new Indian Premier League deal, he was arrogant, attempting to bulldoze over the terms of his central contract,” Booth wrote.
“He was self-pitying, claiming he had never been looked after. And he was a man apart, sending silly texts to the South Africans,” Booth wrote.
Wisden also came down heavily on the ECB for not handling the issue with wisdom.