A brilliant batsman, no doubt about that, but have a look at his quotes here....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/19138968"
For me, the saddest part about all this is that the spectators love watching me play and I love playing for England," said the former Hampshire and Nottinghamshire man.
"The politics is what I have to deal with personally.
It's tough being me and playing for England, it's tough."
He says this whilst earning millions of pounds of year playing cricket - in the middle of the biggest recession in the UK for 80 years.
KP says he wants "more rest and time with the family" whilst at the same time asking for time off from next years Test's against New Zealand so that he can play a full IPL season.
Breathtaking arrogance.
Comments
As for the first comment, he's telling the truth - the fans do love watching him play so what's the problem?
Don't see what's wrong with him wanting to secure what's best for him and his family and if that involves playing cricket in india and not playing test matches then so be it , in the same position, talent wise and with the IPL offers, I'm sure plenty would do the same
At the same time the ECB don't want a player dictating to them cos then they'd all be at it so its a catch 22 situation cos a player like pietersen is exciting and does put bums on seats
He is a bit of a helm but then again let he who is without sin cast the first stone .....
However its a team sport and letting KP do want he wants upsets that ethos.
He is already a disruptive influence in the team and this would create a complete breakdown of the side
Walks away from England he will be come a cricket mercenary - and he will do well - maybe his best option -
He is though very much up his own backside
If they allow him to do it then Broad, Prior and the other top class players will want to play IPL and not make themselves available for the less glamorous foreign tours (Sri Lanka, NZ) or for the early summer home Tests against the weaker sides.
Once that happens then the whole concept of international cricket comes crashing down, Pietersen just does not like it because Flower, Strauss and the ECB are calling his bluff.
KP loves the limelight, he won't walk away from a final home and away Ashes series so he will probably whinge like a three year old but end up re-signing for Tests and maybe even ODI's.
He will then retire from all international cricket at the close of the 2013/14 Ashes here in Oz and become a 'gun for hire' 20-20 batsman in India, Australia, England and wherever will have him.
Sad to think of it but that's probably the way it will go.
Neither are pleasant people (it would seem, I don't know either personally) but they are unpleasant for quite different reasons!
But hes not the biggest tosser ...but you might go a long way to find the biggest ego ...Thats the eternal argument cricket throws up ...its a sport influenced by individual averages and stats which breed an egocentric approach but what matters is how the TEAM fares.I cant help thinking that Pietersen has always been in it for himself and has become a bit of a sideshow , bit like Ferguson realising that Becks should leave Man Utd.
May not be good PR for KP to make himself out a victim though 20/20 IPL cricket will be very easy money for him
Marlon King and Lee Hughes are convicted criminals - of very serious offences - and are both arguably lucky to still be playing the game professionally.
They're not tossers as such, they (and particularly King) are more common or garden scumbags.
Pietersen hasn't killed or assaulted anyone, he is more of a tosser because of his complete lack of self awareness and being such an arrogant prick, he's not actually a loathesome individual as such.
He needs England as much as they need him. He can play in the IPL - but that's only six weeks and maybe the Big Bash in Australia, that's a few more matches and weeks of T20 cricket. Then what? If he plays in England it'll be FC cricket for Surrey and a few months of slogging up and down motorways and in and out of hotels keeping his eye in for the more lucrative IPL type stuff. For a good batsman, with an ego he'll soon miss Test cricket and his central contract that gives him half the summer off. As he was dropped from the England ODI team he spent a chunk of the time between the WI series and the SA series, when Egland were playing the West Indies and Australia in ODI matches in South Africa. He came back played a couple of matches for Surrey and then went into the Test team. He won't be doing that if he's expected to turn out for Surrey.
On his day unplayable but has played some of the thickest cricket going and hanging around with Piers Moron only adds to the fact he isn't the brightest.
But would rather pay to see him play than any other English batsman and he actually does a fair bit for kids cricket.
Chris Gayle is currently back playing for the West Indies after retiring from the WI a season or two back. He soon got fed up with a diet of T20 cricket with the odd longer game thrown in. Consequently Gayle missed the England-WI series this year but returned for the ODI series after some toys were replaced in the pram and is now playing Test cricket for the WI in New Zealand. Personally I'd rather that the IPL went away for good, but it won't so I'd like to see a window in March/April that is scheduled for the IPL and during this time there's no international cricket. That would allow the likes of Gayle, Pietersen and others to play both formats.
This man is an amazingly talented cricketer that people love to watch. However, the nature of that talent is very tied into his ego; the one cannot exist without the other.
Also agree he's a bit of a nob, though. Also agree that it may not be good for the England squad in the long run - but without his knock the other day we would probably have lost, so it's not an easy call.
Kevin Pietersen is not bigger than England team - Alec Stewart
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/19163778
However, all this 'will I wont I' stuff is a step too far....you're doing something that millions would willingly swap places with you to do for just one day in their lives.
Give us a break Kevin, fer gawds sake!
Sometimes I think that he gets battered for coming out and saying stuff that other people in the team are thinking. He suffered by losing the captaincy with the Peter Moores thing but he said at the time he was representing others views as well as his own.
In this instance he's coming out and talking about the elephant in the room in that people at the top of English cricket aren't listening to what the players are saying and what the players want, which is a less intensive schedule and the chance to play in the IPL
Other test playing nations have adjusted their calendars to accommodate the IPL, as a consequence they (by and large) get player availability for their touring teams and probably have to pay their players considerably less than we do under central contracts.
As with any argument you have to look at both sides and I'm not condoning the way the Pietersen is conducting himself in this instance, but part of the blame lies with the way the governing body is conducting itself.
I for one would prefer them to take a more pragmatic view, release the players for the IPL, pay them less as a consequence, develop their own "concentrated" IPL equivalent so that we get the top players in and generate more cash for the counties and governing bodies alike. They can then pump this cash back into the game at grass roots level by funding facilities, equipment and good quality coaches with an emphasis on youth development through state schools, where cricket hardly features in some areas.
But as Falconwood said, he's about the only English player who I would pay to watch bat, he clears bars when he comes out as people can't wait to see him, just look at his hundred in the last test.
Not really the IPL comes at the end of the Asian playing season, there's little or no FC cricket being played in Australia, NZ and SA at that time and it overlaps slightly with the start of the English season. The WI generally play a bit of domestic cricket around that time and that's about it. April/May was chosen for the IPL because it interferes with very little cricket around the world and therefore the best players were likely to be free to play.
All in all Test players in Britain have a good life, they play a couple of County matches at the start of the season, the odd match here and there and usually wrap up early. One of the benefits of a central contract is that County sides are not under pressure to play those players. Life after Centralised Contracts is a lot easier and far more lucrative than before. Prior to their introduction they'd often be playing for their County sides right after Test matches and often on the weekend before as well.
Understand and agree on the county v central contracts issue, I just think we could get the same benefit and pay them less at the same time by enabling them to play the IPL and arranging a less intensive schedule.