Latest news with #KevinPietersen
NDTV
2 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
Kevin Pietersen Stirs Fresh Debate On State Of Modern Bowlers: "I'm Still Waiting..."
Days after starting a debate about the calibre of bowlers being better 25 years ago, England ex-cricketer Kevin Pietersen has yet again stirred the pot. The England international, who played 104 Tests, 136 ODIs and 37 T20Is between 2005 and 2013, is known for his flamboyant views on social media, akin to his batting style. "I see 4.6M people viewed my tweet about bowling being way better 25 years ago," wrote Pietersen on X (formerly Twitter), adding: "I gave a list of 22 bowlers from back then. I'm still waiting for someone to name me 10 bowlers who are bowling at present who'd make that list please?" Pietersen's fresh statement comes after he claimed there was a noticeable decline in the standard of quality bowling across Test-playing nations. "Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then!" Pietersen said. See the post here: I see 4.6M people viewed my tweet about bowling being way better 25 years ago. I gave a list of 22 bowlers from back then. I'm still waiting for someone to name me 10 bowlers who are bowling at present who'd make that list please? — Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 28, 2025 Pietersen named a host of bowlers from the past eras and challenged his readers to name 10 contemporary bowlers who can be compared with them. "Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali, Curtley, Courtney and the list could go on and on..." "I've named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern day bowlers that can compare to the names above?," he added. His statement came in the backdrop of his countryman, Joe Root, going past Australian great, Ricky Ponting, to climb to second place in the all-time list of Test run scorers. Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then! Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali,… — Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 26, 2025 'Simple fact is...' As Pietersen's fresh post went viral, a section of social media users disagreed with his assessment, while others questioned if the comparison was fair in the first place. "They were bowling on more bowler-friendly pitches as well, in general. Probably the biggest things cricket is missing right now is a strong West Indies, a few genuine quicks, and 1-2 spinners who really rip it," said one user while another added: "KP were they really better or did the uncovered pitches provide more assistance." A third commented: "Simple fact is there isn't. Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, Bumrah, Rabada, are the only ones I can think of in modern-day cricket."
The Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Kevin Pietersen leaps to Ben Stokes' defence following fourth Test criticism
Kevin Pietersen has leapt to Ben Stokes' defence after the England captain was criticised for his reaction to India refusing an early finish towards the end of the fourth Test. India left Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday with a draw to keep the Rothesay series alive – England lead 2-1 – after the tourists batted out five sessions as Stokes' side took just four wickets in 143 overs. England's toil might have ended earlier as Stokes offered to shake hands with 15 overs left but he was rebuffed by Ravindra Jadeja as he and fellow spinner Washington Sundar were approaching their hundreds. The hosts were visibly irritated by the decision and a few offered some choice words, while Stokes withdrew his frontline bowlers and turned to Harry Brook's loopy mid-30mph off-spin to hasten a finish. Only when both Jadeja and Washington brought up three figures did the penultimate Test of the series conclude, but Stokes was labelled a 'spoilt kid' by former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar on streaming service JioHotstar in India. Pietersen, a former England team-mate of Stokes, views things differently, though, as he said on X: 'Two days fielding and no result on the cards – you WANT to get off the field! 'You cannot have a pop at Ben Stokes for his frustration. Very easy to have a pop at him when you're sitting in your lounge watching. You're NOT in the battle. Leave the men in the ring to be emotional.' With a blockbuster Ashes series looming on the horizon, many Australian media outlets have seized upon the contentious day five incident in Manchester, with a Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece titled: 'Spare us the whinging, England. The only thing embarrassing about Old Trafford was your tantrum.' Stokes, whose side will look to seal a series win at the Kia Oval this week, insisted he would not have had more satisfaction from getting a hundred than an 80 or 90 not out to help his side avoid defeat. But former Australia opening batter and head coach Justin Langer told Australian daily digital newspaper The Nightly: 'It's great to see that Test cricket still has that hard edge. 'If the roles were reversed, I imagine if it were Ben Stokes whose young team-mates had the chance to score a Test 100, he would have done the exact same thing (as Jadeja and Sundar).' Tensions between England and India had died down in Manchester after the rancour at Lord's earlier this month although this latest flashpoint adds another layer of drama to this week's fifth and final Test. Pietersen added: 'The Stokes issue should NOT distract from the batters who batted to save the Test Match! Outstanding effort and one which makes The Oval a v v important Test. 'Every BIG series I played in had needle and some sort of controversy at some stage. Enjoy this controversy leading into the 5th Test. It's what makes a series memorable!'
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
England vs India fourth Test, day five: Score and latest updates
Latest updates 27 July 2025 9:56am 9:54AM Kevin Pietersen is wrong to say batting was harder 20 years ago Kevin Pietersen did not often bowl, although he first came to English attention when he represented KwaZulu-Natal as an off-spinner on England's 1999-2000 tour of South Africa, but he has delivered some bouncers at Joe Root. Root in the course of his 150 at Old Trafford rose to second place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. But this was not enough to impress Pietersen. Far from it. He declared, like a real old-timer, that batting was twice as hard back in his day. 'Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago!' Pietersen posted on X. 'Probably twice as hard back then.' 9:53AM Nation prays for Stokes' hamstring as India dig in Just like Denis Compton's right knee or David Beckham's metatarsal, Ben Stokes's hamstring will have a nation holding its breath this winter. Can he stay fit and play his full part as an all-rounder, firstly to finish off the fourth Test against India, and then carry England home in Australia? If the answer is no, then their hopes fade to black. After dominating with bat and ball for three days - becoming only the fourth England player to score a century and take a five-for in the same match - Stokes spent two session directing the traffic as India rallied. Without his bowling, England's attack was toothless once Shubman Gill and KL Rahul started the fightback and the shine went off the new ball. England ran out of ideas and Stokes, the series' leading wicket-taker, did not bowl a ball despite being in his best form as a bowler for eight years. 9:43AM Good morning Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport's live, over-by-over coverage of the final day of the Old Trafford Test between England and India. It's the fourth Test in a row that has gone to the final day, and we shouldn't be surprised if it goes to the final hour. Rain is forecast either side of lunch so England could find themselves in a race against time to seal a series victory. India will resume on 174 for 2, a deficit of 137, after a wonderfully defiant partnership between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill. They came together at 0 for 2, with India in disarray and Chris Woakes on a hat-trick. But they played will skill, courage and an even temper to bat throughout the last two sessions. They were rewarded for surviving a fiendish new-ball spell from Woakes and Jofra Archer with increasingly benign conditions. Rahul and Gill have been together for 62.2 overs, India's longest partnership in a Test in England since 2002. The second new ball, due in 17 overs, can't come soon enough for England. They sorely missed Ben Stokes' ability to abracadabra a wicket with the old ball; he did not bowl due to an unspecified injury, possibly to a hamstring, and will be assessed this morning. 'We're hoping so [that Stokes is fit to bowl]. He's a bit stiff and sore,' England's assistant coach Marcus Trescothick said 'He's had quite a big workload in the last few weeks... we're hoping that with another night's rest and a bit more physio work overnight that he'll be back and doing a bit.' England will have the option of resting Stokes for the final Test at the Oval - but only if they get the job done today. If not, India will return to London with the chance of a 2-2 series draw. For England, given the position they were in at lunchtime yesterday, that scenario is unthinkable. Ben Stokes hits century but Shubman Gill & KL Rahul put up India resistance 🏴 🇮🇳 #LateCut — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 26, 2025
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Kevin Pietersen is wrong to say batting was harder 20 years ago
Kevin Pietersen did not often bowl, although he first came to English attention when he represented KwaZulu Natal as an off-spinner on England's 1999-2000 tour of South Africa, but he has delivered some bouncers at Joe Root. Root in the course of his 150 at Old Trafford rose to second place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. But this was not enough to impress Pietersen. Far from it. He declared, like a real old-timer, that batting was twice as hard back in his day. 'Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago!' Pietersen posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. 'Probably twice as hard back then.' Pietersen names 22 bowlers of his time and dares the cricket follower of today to name 10 bowlers to compare with them. Of his contemporaries, he nominates four Australians: Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne; four Pakistanis in Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed; three Indians in Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Harbhajan Singh; three New Zealanders in Shane Bond, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori; three South Africans in Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and, bizarrely, Lance Klusener but not Dale Steyn; two Sri Lankans in Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan; and two West Indians in Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. A single England bowler was nominated by Pietersen in Darren Gough. His colleagues in the Ashes-winning attack of 2005 seem not to have impressed him. Most of the variable factors in Test cricket have changed little in this century: balls, pitches, DRS and so forth. The biggest change has been the impact of T20 – the first professional T20 tournament was started in England in 2003, by when Pietersen was starting out for Nottinghamshire. My interpretation, therefore, would be that Pietersen is wrong to say that the standard of pace bowling has gone down. The finest seamers today are a match for their equivalents of '20/25 years ago'. Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then! Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali,… — Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 26, 2025 'Please name me ten modern bowlers that can compare to the names above,' Pietersen goes on to say. Well, in that case, Australia's Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon can all compare; South Africa's Kagiso Rabada is up with his forebears, not bowling so fast but moving the ball more; Mark Wood and Jofra Archer have been timed as England's quickest ever; New Zealand's Will O'Rourke is a serious customer, as is Jayden Seales, even if West Indies are nowhere near what they were; while a case for Jasprit Bumrah being rated the best of all time has been made, although he has been down on pace in the Old Trafford Test. Where Pietersen is right, although he does not spell it out, is that the standard of finger-spin bowling in Test cricket has decreased, while that of wrist-spin has plummeted. And this is where T20 must have had its impact: spinners bowl a higher percentage of the overs in a T20 game than they do in a red-ball or Test match, but it is a different sort of spin: fired in, flat, at the batsman's legs, denying him room. It is a distant relation of flight and dip and turn and defeating the batsman past either inside or outside edge. The presence of finger-spinners in international cricket has faded. If the Test match is in Asia, they will have their say all right, but elsewhere? New Zealand and West Indies might not select one at home. Pakistan, to defeat England last autumn, had to dust down a couple of veterans. It is Lyon and South Africa's Keshav Maharaj who keep this show on the road outside Asia. Of wrist-spinners, Pietersen had to face Warne, Kumble and Mushtaq, and he might have added Yasir Shah who took five wickets per Test for Pakistan. Their successors are not visible, in England or anywhere else: India do not select Kuldeep Yadav, and while Afghanistan have Rashid Khan, they have been able to play only 11 Tests. England have been as culpable as any country in allowing spin to decline, whether in the county championship or the national side, and especially wrist-spin. In almost 150 years of Test cricket only one wrist-spinner has taken a hundred Test wickets for England, Doug Wright, and only one other has managed 50 wickets, Adil Rashid.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago': Kevin Pietersen
Former England player Kevin Pietersen said that batting in the modern era has become pretty easy compared to what it was 20-25 years ago. He also suggested there has been a decline in top bowlers in the sport taking the names of starts from yesteryears like Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath among others to compare them to today's bowlers. 'Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then! 'Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali, Curtley, Courtney and the list could go on and on… I've named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern day bowlers that can compare to the names above?,' Pietersen wrote on X on Saturday. Pietersen, who played 104 Tests, 136 ODIs and 37 T20Is for England between 2005 and 2013, has been as flamboyant with his views as he was in the middle with the bat. Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then! Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali,… — Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) July 26, 2025 The former right-handed batter, who made 8,181 runs at 47.28 with 23 tons and 35 fifties in Test cricket, said batting was 'twice as hard back then'. This came on a day when Pietersen's country mates Ben Stokes and Joe Root's tons guided England to an imposing 669 in their first innings. Stokes (141 from 198 balls) put to rest his two-year long drought to make his 14th Test hundred as England marched on to a 600-plus total. Root, meanwhile, overtook Australia great Ricky Ponting to climb to second place in the all-time list of Test run scorers. He capitalised on a wayward Indian bowling attack to smash 150 on Day Three of the Manchester Test, is now behind only Sachin Tendulkar's towering mark of 15,921 runs. Chasing, India were reeling on 1 for two in their second innings at lunch on Day 4 after conceding a massive 311-run lead. Pacer Chris Woakes dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and B Sai Sudharsan in successive balls in the first over itself, as the visitors now trail by 310 runs. (With agency inputs)
