Ex-Virat Kohli teammate blames IPL for derailing his international career

Former International cricketer Kevin Pietersen’s career was nothing less than a thriller. From proving his wrong many times to off-field controversies, his career with the England National Cricket Team was far from being called smooth. Pietersen’s rift with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was a widely discussed matter.

Pietersen was one of the few English cricketers who stepped up in support of the then newly inaugurated franchise league, called the Indian Premier League (IPL). Years after announcing retirement from the international career in an abrupt manner, the former batter claimed that he sacrificed a lot to support IPL.

Kevin Pitersen, a former RCB batter, revealed his struggles in supporting the IPL

Speaking in a candid interaction with Ranveer Allahbadia, the 45-year-old revealed a tough time during the early 2000s. When IPL was a fresh concept on the cricket map, ECB was openly against the league, barring their star cricketers from participating in the franchise tournament. Kevin Pietersen was one of those who were directly up against the board.

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“I made big sacrifices. I lost my career. That’s the reason why everybody in that establishment went against me,” Kevin Pietersen said, highlighting the long-standing conflict between him and the ECB.

He still believes that his career with the England cricket team could be more illustrious if he had kept himself far from those controversial phases.

“I was 33 when my England career finished, 104 Test matches. I should have played 150-160 Tests and got 12,000-13,000 runs. That’s what I should have got,” he said about his short-lived international career.

A career claded with many controversies.

Kevin Pietersen retired from international limited-overs cricket on May 31, 2012, citing an intense schedule, but continued playing Test cricket before his international career effectively ended in 2014.

During his tenure with England, the middle-order batter, who was famously known for aggressive batting even in Tests, played 104 matches in the Whites to score 8181 runs for an average of 47.28. In the longest format of the game, the right-handed batter registered 35 half-centuries and 23 centuries. In the ODIs, he amassed 4440 runs in 125 innings with nine 100s and twenty-five 50s. In the T20 Internationals, he quickly established himself as one of the most prominent batters, who accumulated 1176 runs with an average of 37.93 and a strike rate of 141.51 after featuring in 36 innings.

The retired professional cricketer, in short, revealed how the cricket board used the media to go against him. Kevin said that he is happy and living his life with peace now.

“The ECB used The Telegraph to go after me... I don’t want to go too deep into it. It was well publicised, and I live a very happy, peaceful life now,” he said.

Jos Buttler said KP thanks

Kevin Pietersen felt that what he did in those days has had an effect till today. At present, top players across the nations, including the cricketers from England, are part of the IPL. The former cricketer stated that he talked with Jos Buttler, who said thanked the former cricketer for all that he did.

“I interviewed Jos Buttler a few days ago, and he also said ‘thank you’. Because of all the sacrifices I had made, these guys can have the fruits now,” he also claimed during the discussion.

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