Is the pressure of captaincy taking it's toll on Kevin Pietersen's batting?
Monday, November 24, 2008 : England
Kevin Pietersen started this ODI series against India in fine form and full of expectation, but is the pressure of captaincy and of losing consecutive matches beginning to take it's toll on the batting of Kevin Pietersen?
After starting with scores of 63 and 33 he has looked out of sorts in his next 2 innings, scoring 13 and 5. Without any serious experience of cricket captaincy he is on the steepest of steep learning curves. What with the new batting power play, fiddling a 5th bowler, rain affected matches and Duckworth Lewis, One Day International cricket and Twenty20 is a nightmare for captains. We've seen the strain it put on Paul Collingwood.
In the words of Geoff Boycott, I would like to know who is making the decisions in this England team. I suspect it is Kevin Pietersen, as he usually likes to run things his way. But if so, he is showing his inexperience as a leader, as well as a lack of flexibility. Whoever worked out the batting order for this game needs their head testing.Geoff Boycott
Some decisions on team selection, batting order and team strategy have looked inconsistent at best and ill thought through at worst.
No Third Man are long time admirers of Ricky Ponting for his ability to be a top class batsman batting at 3 and dealing with the pressures of captaincy. Let's hope Kevin Pietersen can use this valuable chastening experience in India to make him a consistent batsman as well as a stronger captain.
At the moment we're sure that KP is looking forward to a few weeks off playing in the IPL as just a swashbuckling batsman.
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