Kevin Pietersen - The most romantic innings ever played (Part 2)
Chris Gayle’s triple century was the 9th one in 380 Test matches since May 2002. There had been only eight in the previous 44 years and 1148 Tests played.
Which brings us back to one of the most remarkable innings played by one of the finest batsmen in the world. Kevin Pietersen has been under immense scrutiny since his heroics from the World T20 tournament where he was awarded the Man of the Tournament. His
Test form had been less than satisfactory in the last few years where he seemed less potent a threat as he once was. The timing of his dry patch was coincidental with the rise of the English team. While his entire team was making headway in the world of cricket,
tackling many formidable challengers, Kevin Pietersen felt like an outcaste with his own team mates as his form deteriorated.
Which is why when it came for him, when it finally did, it brought a wry smile on the faces of the most critical, the most merciless of critics for they knew that the man they desperately sought after, was back. Back with a bang. He had to wait 21 months
and 39 first class innings for that breather, like a drowning man desperately gasping at air as he finally surfaces. Pietersen was just itching for that chance once again. He did breathe, as he punched the air with a satisfaction of a man who had found what
he was desperately seeking, the elixir of life, as he trotted for a single to complete his double century.
Before the beginning of 2010 Ashes, all sorts of question marks were being thrown at him from all directions. They questioned his ability to step into the shoes of Sir Ian Botham, to repeat the heroics from the 1980s, to become a saviour for his team. As
Pietersen played on the third day, he emanated the aura of a schoolboy in a playground. He struck the ball all around the ground with presumptuous ease; he played like a man who had finally been restored to the plinth from where he was toppled. He was also
in a vengeful mood against his favourite adversaries, to pay back for the crimes committed on him, since his days of dominance.
With the innings, he became more confident that he had done what he was destined to do. We all expected him to do it and he did. It was all the more wonderful. All the more romantic for some of us starved cricket fans. On the one hand, it provided closure
for everything that had conspired in the past, his declining form and the scathing criticism he was subjected to. On the other hand, he carved carefully a fresh wound in the already debilitated Kangaroos, to establish themselves as the philistine giants of
the empire of the Ashes. The wound coming from a man, they respected and feared, a man they looked to attack.
The last time he was in such extraordinary form was four years ago, when he scored a brilliant 158 in his triple century stand against the Aussies. However, that was a time when he sought publicity, where the pomp gland was still working somewhere within
him to give him that air of vanity. When, he claimed he had mastered the great Warne, only to be bowled by the leg spinner to set the stage for an Ashes collapse.
However, those days are behind him now as he neither sought publicity nor praise. The pomp gland has disappeared, as he struck a magical romantic double hundred to exasperate the opponents, to drain them of their energy. He knows quite well that unlike four
years ago, the world has ceased to revolve around him, that he is an instrument that helps drive the engine, rather than him being the engine itself.
To be continued in Part 3...
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