27 Facts about Kevin Pietersen – The See ball, Hit ball phenomenon

Kevin Pietersen is arguably the most controversial players of the modern day game. Call him a rebel warrior or a genius plagued by off-field flaws, KP has never ceased to amaze his fans on the field. His performances for England are by and large the best by any English batsman in the modern era. He has amassed over 13,500 runs across all three formats in international cricket and the stats itself speaks volumes about his calibre and repertoire. Here are some interesting facts about Kevin Pietersen – the originator of the see ball, hit ball phenomenon:

1. Roots and beginnings:

Pietersen was born on 27 June 1980 at Pietermaritzburg in South Africa to an English mother, Penny and a South African father, Jannie. He developed a love for the game early in his life. He has three brothers, Tony, Greg and Bryan. He attended Maritzburg College, Pietermaritzburg.

2. Matured too soon:

At the bare age of 17, he made his first-class debut for the Natal’s B team in the year 1997. He started his career as an off-spinner but lack of bowling opportunities developed him as a hard hitting batsman. Playing against Nasser Hussain’s England in 2000, he hit a brilliant knock of 61 runs off 57 balls at the number 9 position! Earlier in the game, he had bagged a four-wicket as well.

3. Bowling over Nasser Hussain:

During the match, KP went and asked Nasser if he could give him some contacts where the former could play club cricket in England. Speaking on the same, Nasser later quoted, “. . . a young off-spinning opponent of ours walked into the England dressing room after taking a few wickets for KwaZulu Natal in a tour match in Durban and plonked himself down next to me, asking if I knew of any English teams he could play for. I thought he meant club cricket and almost gave him my brother’s number and told him to try Fives and Heronians but it turned out he had bigger ambitions than that…”

4. The big switch:

Miffed by the racial quota in the South African domestic circuit, he decided to move to England to pursue a career in English cricket. He started by playing for Cannock CC and later joined Nottinghamshire for a 3-year deal and was well supported by the then coach of the team, Clive Rice.

5. Starts off with a bang:

In his first season, he made 1,275 runs with an impressive batting average of 57.95, including 218* in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 352 with John Morris at Derby, after having been dismissed for a duck in the first innings.

6. Kit kicked out!

In 2003, Nottinghamshire was relegated after a string of poor performances. A frustrated KP expressed the poor quality of pitches in Trent Bridge and added his desire to move out of the team. This sparked a row between him and the team captain. The skipper of Notts then, Jason Gallian, allegedly threw his kit and bat out of the window. Interestingly, Pietersen hasn’t received an apology yet!

7. Debut and the hostile crowd:

He made his debut for England in 2004 after Andrew Flintoff pulled out of the tour citing Robert Mugabe’s regime as his chief concern. KP, however, ended the 4-match series at an average of 104 with a best of 77. He was then picked up for the tour to South Africa, where he received a lot of boos and had to face the heat. He responded by ending up as the player of the series with 454 runs in 5 innings. His score of 108 in the 2nd ODI propelled his ODI average of a record 234! In the 4th ODI, he hit a century off just 69 balls, the fastest century by an England player in ODIs. The record was broken by Jos Buttler, who scored a century in 61 balls against Sri Lanka in 2014.

8. The Ashes hero:

He made his Test debut during the 2005 Ashes series at Lord’s and was picked ahead of Graham Thorpe. He came into bat at 18/3 and made 57 on debut in his first innings. In the 2nd innings, he finished making another half-century – 64*, thus becoming only the 4th player to top-score in both innings on debut for England, the 8th England player to score a half-century in each inning on debut, and the 3rd cricketer to do so at Lord’s.

9. Most Sixes in a Test innings:

Pietersen hit 7 sixes during his knock of 158 at the Oval in the Ashes 2005-06. Doing so, he broke Ian Botham’s record for hitting most sixes in an innings in the Ashes.

10. Playing in the Duleep Trophy?

He also participated in one of the pioneer domestic tournaments of Indian circuit, the Duleep Trophy in 2003-04. He was a part of the England A (now England Lions) team that participated in that season as a guest team. Playing against South Zone, he scored a century in each inning (104 and 115) though in a losing cause as South Zone miraculously chased down 501 to win riding on Venugopal Rao’s 228* in the 2nd innings.

11. Fast and the furious:

Kevin Pietersen reached the 1000-run milestone in ODIs in just 21 innings, equalling the record by Sir Vivian Richards. He was also the joint fastest (the other batsman being Zaheer Abbas) to 2000 runs. His record was later broken by Hashim Amla.

12. Got 3 in a row!

When KP scored 158 at Lord’s against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the summer in 2006 and followed it up with 142 in the next Test at Edgbaston, and the inclusion of his 158 against Australia to close of the 2005 summer made him the 1st England player since Graham Gooch to make hundreds in three consecutive innings. He subsequently entered the top ten in the world rankings.

13. Personal best against the visiting Indians:

He amassed 533 runs during India’s tour to England in 2011, an effort unmatched by his own personal standards. He kick-started the tournament with an unbeaten 202 at Lord’s and finished the tournament with 175 at the Oval.

14. A contrasting Pakistan tour:

From being at his best in a series to his worst: in three Tests against Pakistan in 2012, he scored 67 at an average of 11.16, his poorest average in a series ever.

15. The century drought:

The period from 2009 to 2012 saw Pietersen scoring no ODI centuries. He came back strong and silenced his critics by slamming two back to back centuries against Pakistan in the UAE in 2012.

16. The most expensive guy:

Kevin Pietersen was the most expensive player at the IPL auctions in 2009 along with Andrew Flintoff as he bagged a deal with Royal Chargers Bangalore for $1.55 million. He later went on to play for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL and even captained the side. His most recent appearance was for the Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 9.

17. Unusual nicknames:

While he is fondly known as KP, his other nicknames include Kapes, Kaper and Kelves. During the 2006–07 Ashes tour, the Australian team nicknamed him as “The Ego”, or “FIGJAM” (F*** I’m Good, Just Ask Me) in a bid to have a psychological impact on the English players.

18. The peroxide dye:

During his early days in international cricket, KP was noted for unusual yet stylish hairdos, with his peroxide blond, dyed streak of hair along the middle of his head during the 2005 Ashes series being described as a “dead skunk” look.

19. The mystery behind the switch hit:

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Kevin Pietersen was the pioneer of the Switch hit. Attributing his success of the shot, KP said that playing hockey in his childhood helped him master the innovative shot.

Also check out – 12 Freakish cricketing shots which stunned the fans in pics

20. Hook off the front foot to Shoaib Akhtar:

It was the 2nd Test of the England’s tour to Pakistan in 2005-06 when KP clobbered a 95 Mph delivery by Shoaib Akhtar for a six off the front foot. Now that is some class! Pietersen ended up scoring 100 in the 1st innings of the drawn game at Faisalabad.

21. The World Cup Hero:

Kevin Pietersen’s aggregate of 248 runs at an average of 62 during the ICC World T20 2010, saw England lift the ICC trophy for the first time. Also, he became the first English player to win the Player of the Series award in an ICC global event.

22. The Test Juggernaut:

He achieved 5,000 Test runs in the fastest time, reaching this feat in just 4 years and 243 days.

23. Trophies galore:

He is the only player to have won both ICC ODI Player of the Year and ICC Emerging Player of the Year in the same calendar year. He received the prestigious awards in 2005.

24. Into the Personal life:

Kevin Pietersen is married to Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor. The couple married on 29 December 2007 at St Andrew’s Church in Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Darren Gough was his best man. His son, Dylan, was born on 11 May 2010. His daughter, Rosie, was born on 27 December 2015.

25. Autobiography and the controversy:

KP: The Autobiography was published in 2014 and it is remarked as one of the most outspoken and revealing autobiographies by any cricketer. He had earlier published another autobiography titled Kevin Pietersen: Crossing the Boundary in 2007.

26. Man of all formats:

He is undoubtedly one of the most complete players who have been equally effective in all the three formats of the game. He has 8181 Test runs to his name with 23 tons under his belt. His aggregate of 4440 in the 136 ODIs he played in, speaks a lot about his limited overs credentials. He has 3 T20 centuries to his name and bats with an average over 37 in the T20Is.

27. Major Teams:

The major team’s that KP has featured in are – England, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Dolphins, Hampshire, ICC World XI, KwaZulu-Natal, Melbourne Stars, Stars, Natal, Nottinghamshire, Quetta Gladiators, Rising Pune Supergiants, Royal Challengers Bangalore, St Lucia Zouks, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Surrey.