Former England batter Kevin Pietersen made his Test debut against an Australian attack comprising bowlers such as Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. Pietersen scored half-centuries in both the innings not just because of his terrific talent, but his past knowledge of playing Warne, in particular, in the past.
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It was the first Test of Ashes 2005 and Pietersen rose to the occasion. Any other batter in the world would have struggled against these quality bowlers, but Pietersen had a memorable debut.
For the unversed, Pietersen and Warne played together for Hampshire together in County Championship and that’s why the former had an idea about how to counter a world-class spinner. Warne had captained Hampshire for three seasons, where he led the side in 33 matches. Pietersen, meanwhile, played under Warne a total of six times in 2005.
Out of the 121 runs he scored in his first Test, Pietersen scored 49 of those against Warne which included getting out against him in the first innings. Warne and Pietersen shared a great camaraderie together. Warne once said that he never sledged Pietersen in his life, whereas Pietersen once blamed the media for tarnishing Warne’s image. The duo later played together for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
Test Debutant Kevin Pietersen Wasn’t Intimidated by Shane Warne For This Reason
In his column for The Guardian, Pietersen once said that he didn’t fear facing Warne in his very first Test match, that too an Ashes Test. As mentioned earlier, it was due to the reason that he had played faced played under him Warne and also faced him several times in the nets in County cricket.
The English batter used to make fun of Warne and have a laugh with him, not everyone could do it as Warne would have gone berserk regarding any other player. While Warne’s presence was enough to scare the batters, Pietersen considers himself lucky in this regard.
“I was also lucky. Warnie [Shane Warne] was my captain at Hampshire and we got on great, so I never had the intimidation factor that everyone else did; there was no intimidation at all. Absolutely none.”
Pietersen called Warne a ‘Superstar’ and revealed how everyone respected him in the dressing room. According to the right-handed batter, Warne was always a vocal guy and was the one who always replied to everyone’s messages.
“I Played Spin Really Badly” – Pietersen On His Skills Against Spin As A Rookie
Pietersen also disclosed that he was a very poor player of spin during his early days. He was the one whose feet never used to move and used to just relied on his reach. However, belonging to the pre-DRS era worked in his favour as the umpires always used to give him not-out because of the big stride.
“I played spin really badly. I used to stay on the crease, plant my foot and rely on my reach, my hands and my eyes – and when they failed me, I always had my pad. Pre-DRS, no umpire would give me out if I’d got in a big stride, so I was fine, pretty much, however great the bowler.”
Having shared the dressing room at Royal Challengers Bangalore during Indian Premier League 2009, former Indian captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid once sent an e-mail to Pietersen on how to play spin. Dravid advised Pietersen to play without pads against spinners as he will use his bat more to save his legs.
Pietersen himself agreed that the strategy did wonders for him and he started counter-attacking the bowlers instead of taking balls on the pads. At the end of his career, he had a pretty handsome Test record against them.
Pietersen, the last of whose 377 international matches was an Ashes 2013-14 match, scored 3,382 Test runs against spin bowlers at an average of 49.73. He smashed 339 fours and 68 sixes, getting out 68 times in the process. His batting strike rate was 66.08.
