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A time to celebrate

Simon Barnes ventures into sensitive territory, when he suggests that Kevin Pietersen, with two centuries the stand out performer in the England lineup, is not yet the finished article. KP then:

Two years ago, England were at the Oval with a match to save. It was Kevin Pietersen who did the saving. Michael Vaughan, the England captain, had given him an instruction that has gone down into legend: “Play your natural game.” It was by means of the demented innings that followed that England were able to win the Ashes. Pietersen’s natural game was a violent assault on the bowler’s soul, a deranged exhibition of power and eye.

And Pietersen now:

As a result, he has dispensed with much of the flashiness, keeping only enough to remind himself that he is still KP. He has stopped trying to hit the cover off every ball. He has become selective, thoughtful, even circumspect. The technically minded note that he is far less inclined to whip everything to leg with his bottom hand.

But the real point is that he has stopped playing shots and started playing innings. He has become acquisitive. The single pearl is no longer sufficient; he wants the whole damn necklace. Style has become less important to him than substance. Yesterday, he batted like a grown-up.

Sometimes, when people change their ways, it doesn’t work. An attacking batsman, seeking to play more responsibly, becomes meshed in confusion, no longer clear about what to attack and what to block. Once the mind gets in the way, a batsman can lose the best part of himself. He becomes a caricature, patting back the half-volleys that he used to smash and getting out for an involuntary heave against the best that the opposition can offer him.

The question, says Barnes, is not whether KP has it in him to master the bowlers he goes up against; the real question is whether he has it in him to master himself.

Also read: Team India makes a collective statement

India in the United Kingdom 2007

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