Kevin Pietersen shares Rahul Dravid’s letter on how to play spin in Bangladesh

Dixit Bhargav | 19/09/2019
Kevin Pietersen shares Rahul Dravid's letter on how to play spin in Bangladesh

Kevin Pietersen shares Rahul Dravid’s letter: Former England batsman shared how former Indian captain advice helped him.

Playing any international sport has it in it to test even the best of sports persons. There are times when even the best of athletes require suggestions on why to get out of lean patches. Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen had shared one such incident of his career.

Pietersen highlighted the time when England were in Bangladesh for a three-match ODI and two-match Test series in 2010. In three ODIs, Pietersen had scored 41 runs at an average of 13.66 and a strike rate of 60.29. Batting at No. 3, Pietersen got out to Bangladesh left-arm spinner in Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak in all the three matches.

Kevin Pietersen shares Rahul Dravid’s letter

In the practice match which was played before the first Test in Chittagong, Pietersen got out on 2 and 20 in the first and second innings respectively. However, what was more concerning was the fact that he was dismissed by spinners on both the occasions.

It was then that Pietersen eventually turned to his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Rahul Dravid for advice on how to play spinners – particularly Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak.

Following the query was raised, Dravid wrote a letter to the English cricketer. Pietersen has even mentioned this incident in his autobiography titled ‘KP: The Autobiography’. In a recent tweet which is doing the rounds contains the screenshot of Dravid’s letter from the book.

“One good practice is to bat against Swann and Monty without pads or with just knee pads (maybe not a day before a game!). When you have no pads it will force you, sometimes painfully, to get the bat forward of the pads and will force you to watch the ball. Also the leg will be less keen to push out without any protection.

“My coach would tell me you should never need pads to play spin!! Watch the ball and trust yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t play spin, I have seen you and you can,” Dravid wrote in his letter.

In the two Tests which England played in Bangladesh, Pietersen scored 250 runs at an average of 83.33 and a strike rate of 74.18 including two half-centuries.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
England India kevin pietersen Rahul Dravid

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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