Kevin Pietersen is one of the most renowned voices in the cricketing fraternity. He has often been seen sharing his views on various aspects of the game without mincing his words. He has often been criticized for his honest opinions of social media, but at the same time, he garners a lot of respect as well. As a brand ambassador of Betway, he recently opined on the recent happenings in world cricket like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Ben Stokes becoming England’s Test captain.
Pietersen, in his weekly IPL column for Betway, started by talking about the new entrants in IPL 2022, Gujarat Titans (GT), who seem to have all base covered and he is pleasantly surprised with their performance. He appreciated the positive frame of mind GT players have managed to showcase on the field and he even compared them with Rajasthan Royals (RR), who under the captaincy of Shane Warne won the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.
Enigma of Gujarat Titans
Kevin Pietersen opined that to perform consistently, a team requires to focus on the process and needs to have a winning attitude and according to him, Gujarat Titans have managed to do the same quite consistently this season. He reckons GT has somehow managed to keep the dressing happy even in the rough phases (if any).
Former English skippers also asserted that Gujarat Titans were not the strongest team on paper before the season started, but they believed in their process and it helped them in churning out wins in improbable situations as well. One such illustration of the same was witnessed by the fans when Rashid Khan kept a positive frame of mind to score 25 runs in the final over against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) earlier in the season.
Kevin Pietersen opines that along with Gujarat Titans, he also considers Rajasthan Royals as one of the best teams in the IPL 2022 so far. At the same time, he also pointed out the lackluster performance of Kolkata Knight Riders, he said that a big team like KKR shouldn’t have witnessed such a horrible state of affairs.
Lackluster KKR
Pietersen was very critical of the strategies of KKR in IPL 202 so far as they didn’t have a bad squad still they managed to make a mess somehow. He reckons that KKR’s dressing room is filled with negativity. He said that in this season, KKR lacked the innovative approach they had last year which helped them to reach the finals. Kevin Pietersen also pointed out the KKR lost their momentum in the middle of the tournament like the Mumbai Indians (MI), who were the biggest disappointments of IPL 2022.
Talking about the importance of having good spinners in IPL 2022 so far, he revealed how the commentators are impressed by the pitches prepared in the IPL which have been assisting the spinners due to their bouncy and hard nature.
However, Kevin Pietersen also pointed out that spinners love to bounce and bowlers like Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have managed to extract that a lot from the pitches. He had words of praise for Kul-Cha, who have been pretty consistent in this season and they have been more difficult for the batters to pick owing to their mystery.
Ben Stokes becomes England’s Test captain
Kevin Pietersen seems disappointed with the current state of affairs in English cricket. He reckons that the entire Test system needs an overhaul and cricket are been poor and the results have been rubbish. On the contrary note, he also reckons that England is moving in the right direction after the appointment of Ben Stokes as the captain. He said, “England team needs a leadership group with some gravitas and personality.”
It seems that England cricket has addressed some issues with the appointment of Stokes who can bring a sense of personality and gravitas to the dressing room. Kevin Pietersen reckons that a part of Stokes’ appointment and getting Graham Ford as the Test coach would help England to reach a new height in the longest format of the game.
Pietersen concluded by saying that Stokes and Ford understand the game of cricket pretty well and they are motivated to improve the condition of the game in the country. He wished Stokes the very best for the future as it is an honor for any cricketer to lead the England team in the international arena and it is a reason for his family to be extremely proud of him.
