There is no ‘I’ in team. Kevin Pietersen has learnt that the hard way. After a complete mauling in Australia, England have decided to blame Pietersen’s personality for the loss. That itself tells you the impact KP has had on English cricket.
Now, England have left him out because he disagreed with the coach who is on his way out too. Rumours suggest Matt Prior stabbed Kevin Pietersen in the back. He was the one who went and informed Andy Flower about KP’s dislike for him. The comments were made by KP, after Prior initiated the topic himself (allegedly).
These are just rumours which Prior has refuted. The real reasons for KP’s expulsion from the team are
1) The tattoos
2) Being England’s highest scorer during the Ashes, thereby humiliating Cook and co.
3) Fighting it out against hostile fast bowling, thereby making Cook and co. look cowardly
4) Body odour from all the playing
5) Not being a ‘yes’ man.
6) Having way more followers on Twitter than the English Cricket Board. Way way more.
7) Having a bad influence on youngsters like Joe Root by being the fourth leading run-scorer for England in Tests.
8) Playing the switch hit thereby being a better left handed batsman than Cook and Flower (debatable).
9) For having a ‘punk’ phase.
10) For holding more value in the IPL than all the other English players combined (except Eoin Morgan).
It’s hard to judge from the outside whether dropping Kevin Pietersen is the right way to go. But as fans, we will mourn the loss of one of the best entertainers in world cricket.
For our grief, we deserve a thorough explanation from the ECB.