Kevin Pietersen : A Modern Batsman bid adieu to International Limited Overs Cricket

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen, on 31 May 2012, retired from all forms of international limited overs cricket. But he would still available for Tests. His decision of retirement comes just four months ahead of the world T20 in Sri Lanka where England is the defending Champions. He is 32 years old and thought that it was the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players came through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015. The terms of England Players’ central contract state that any cricketer making unavailable for either of the one-day formats automatically rules himself out of consideration for both formats of the game – ODI & T20.

The 31-year old Pietersen has played 127 ODIs and 36 international T20s for England, making his international debut in 2004 against Zimbabwe in Harare. Pietersen has scored 4,184 runs at the average of 41.84 in one-day internationals and averages 37.93 in international T20 cricket. The flamboyant batsman, who discussed his position with the ECB during the Test against West Indies at Lord’s, has a contract till September 2012. That contract will be downgraded to reflect the fact that he will only be selected Test cricket from now.

Pietersen was born in 27 June 1980 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province. He is a South African born English Cricketer. Pietersen is married to Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor on December 29, 2007 at St Andrew's Church in Castle Combe. He was captain of the England Tests and ODIs from August 04, 2008 to January 07, 2009. Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket and the quickest in terms of time to 5,000 Test runs. He has the highest average of any England player to have played more than 20 innings of one-day cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only the Australian Donald Bradman and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "The most complete batsman in cricket". In 2012, The Guardian called him "England's greatest modern batsman"

A Portrait of Pietersen is made by me...

Kevin Pietersen - The English Wall