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A Special Feature by Karthik Narayan
 Wide
on the horizon, as anxious eyes and ears watched and listened,
the footsteps of a blue-uniform clad cricketer treading on the
paths taken by many a youth, a new cricketer bearing the name
of Kevin Pietersen on his back walked into the stadium, his
bat in his hands like a bludgeon.
This young man carried with him contemporariness of an
exemplar, a superstar-ish feature of a plunderer in the mould
of a great emperor in the cricket field. And yet, he was yet
to be tested in the big stage – thus he had set foot on a
world stage where the winner takes all and the loser
disappears without a trace! Pieterson was born in
Pietermaritzburg, the same place as the legendary Jonty Rhodes
in 1980. Having played for Natal in his early days, the case
of racism saw him moving to England along with his mother to
find safer havens to practice his hard hitting. Now South
Africa shall be sore enough to realize what they missed.
Perhaps, for
South Africa, after a sound thrashing in the
test series, adding fuel to the fire might have been Pieterson
slamming their bowlers to all corners of the park.
This cricketer knows everything out of the box. Every time he
walks in to bat, he portrays the arrogance of a charming
entertainer and the confidence of a man on the Trapeze! His
batting shows no sign of anything in the cricketing manual and
it’s purely out of the box!
From what we have been seeing of this batsman, there has been
no sign of the textbook and deft strokes whatsoever; he is
seen more as a pulverizer, the man who whacks the ball with
the finest of ease. After a stark debut against Zimbabwe at
Harare, he has come farther than just being a sweet timer with
short swift cameos to a smashing HERO with the flow of a
Tsunami. His authority through the leg side was only too
evident as he faced his own “Kin”, the South Africans in the
country in which he was born. He threatened to take the game
away right from ball one, and his first century ironically
came against them on 02.02.2005, which also ended up as a
famous thrilling tie.
Following his first century in the second
ODI, he has had much more to tell in the matches following. In
the next match, he did miss out on a big score, but he wasn’t
finished. A magnificent innings of 75 at a strike rate that
runs into the high 90s proved that he wasn’t for all the money
in the world a one match wonder!
And if that was GREAT, what word would one use to describe his
next innings in the 5th ODI at East London? A violent and
raging battle against time, (England had to win that match to
level the series) and with no inhibitions to throw convention
out of the window, he played out of his skin to claim the
record of England’s fastest ODI century – a hundred (unbeaten)
off a mere 69 balls. England did end up losing eventually but
Pieterson pounded the protean bowlers to dust as their bowling
figures were dented.
Seven Boundaries and Four Sixers clocked at the speed of light
and beyond were etched in that innings, by far the best ever
England ODI innings in the past year. And his high speed
actions almost, well almost clinched a win for his team. That
innings showed skill and maturity. With tremendous bat speeds
and amazing display of toying with the bowlers, Pieterson has
made things easier for England in the ongoing ODI series
against South Africa. Now the Proteas tremble when this
batsman walks in at Number Five.
With a mere handful of ODIs, Kevin Pieterson already commands
respect amongst the bowlers who have bowled to him. Apart from
being a batsman who wants to dictate terms, Pieterson rolls
his arm around for some gentle off spinners.
The harsh reality of contemporary ODI cricket is that, you are
either in or out! Simple as that! Kevin Peter Pietersen has
just started on his career, and even though it has been
spinning in a lot of fame and the Odd clichés of “traitor”,
time is the potent factor, which shall tell the story of this
young Pom. A small reading of cricketing history tells us the
game is greater than the individual and Pieterson shall very
well be smart to settle down before he runs out of ammunition.
But while he lasts in his present “avatar”, mighty fireworks
shall be seen on the cricketing field!
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