Kevin Pietersen responds to IPL comeback: The former English batter has quashed speculations about IPL 2022 comeback.
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During the fifth match of the ongoing inaugural season of Legends League Cricket between Asia Lions and World Giants in Al Amerat yesterday, World Giants opening batter Kevin Pietersen had scored a match-winning half-century at a strike rate of 226.32.
Opening the batting with Herschelle Gibbs (12), Pietersen played a pivotal role in a 150-run chase. The extent of damage done by Pietersen can be observed from the fact that him getting out at the halfway mark had no impact on the rest of the innings as his team had needed only 22 runs off 56 deliveries to win the match.
Pietersen, who primarily took the attack against the spinners, scored as many as 30 and 21 runs off Sanath Jayasuriya and Asghar Afghan respectively. Making a mockery of the chase, Pietersen departed after scoring 86 (38) with the help of nine fours and seven sixes.
Kevin Pietersen responds to IPL comeback post Legends League Cricket half-century vs Asia Lions
Videos of Pietersen’s outstanding innings have been doing the rounds across social media platforms since last night. Pietersen, 41, himself posted a 65-second video urging people to spend a minute on watching his batting from Wednesday.
Reacting to a post which had asked about Pietersen’s Indian Premier League comeback, Pietersen joked around how he is “too expensive” for the IPL.
Too expensive!
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) January 27, 2022
Still got it bud 👏🏻. Death, taxes and a Kev Masterclass are givens 😉
— Rikki Clarke (@RikkiClarke81) January 27, 2022
Back in the day, Pietersen had represented Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals and Rising Pune Supergiants across five IPL seasons scoring 1,001 runs in 36 innings at an average and strike rate of 35.75 and 134.72 respectively including a century and four half-centuries.
Having last played competitive cricket for Quetta Gladiators in Pakistan Super League 2018, Pietersen had returned to the field in the Road Safety World Series 2021 before taking part in Legends Cricket League.