He is not in the team hotel, neither is he seenanywhere in the vicinity of the England cricket team, yet a certain 6’5” tallman responding to the name of Kevin Pietersen seems to be omnipresent.
When England captain Stuart Broad came for a customary media interaction atthe Nondescripts Cricket Ground ahead of his team’s match against Afghanistan,the third question invariably was what the dressing room feels like withoutPietersen’s presence.
Broad didn’t seem to like the question but had to answer it.“Well, obviouslyKP has been around for a long time but at the moment, he is not here. So wehave to get along with what we have. We have 15 boys who are representingEngland and are keen to wear the England jersey. They want to star in a WorldCup match,” was Broad’s curt response.
Young left-arm spinner Danny Briggs wasn’t allowed to let go withoutanswering a question on the superstar who was discarded after sending out“provocative” text messages to South African players criticising his teammates.
“Have you guys followed his debut as TV expert,” quizzed one of the Englishscribes. A reluctant Briggs had no option but to answer the query.
“I mean a few boys were watching his post match show on Television,” was allwhat Briggs managed to say.
If that wasn’t enough, Ian Bell and Samit Patel went fora drink at a pub. Assoon as they settled down with a pint of beer, the giant screen at the pubshowed ‘KP’ dissecting alongside former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
Bell and Patel decided to sit on a couch which ensured that they didn’t haveto watch the giant screen and indulged in their drinks leisurely.
But why only the current players, even former players are curious to knowabout what the South Africa-born batsman is speaking on air.
Before the start of India’s match against Afghanistan, former Englandskipper Nasser Hussain came down at the lunch arena and KP was on TV doing apre-match show. Hussain was seen requesting the staff to increase the volume sothat he could hear what the batsman was saying.