Time for England to pull a Kevin Pietersen
Posted on Nov 18, 2008 at 10:05 | Updated Nov 18, 2008 at 19:40
3 Comments
They say -- "the higher you fly, the harder you fall." Ricky Ponting will now vouch for that and Kevin Pietersen might join him soon in complete agreement.
Pietersen, touted as the new age captain by the British media after the outlander did a remarkable job in his first series as skipper against the Proteas, is now getting a taste of the bitter side of being a leader. Michael Vaughan's teary exit was followed by Pietersen's heroic entry as the skipper but now MS Dhoni's ferocious men in a country far away have surrounded the hero and England's pride is taking a beating big time.
One man alone from MS Dhoni's camp has demolished Kevin Pietersen's sky high confidence and just in his second series as England captain, Pietersen is searching his way out of the maze that Yuvraj Singh's dazzling form has weaved around his team.
The India-England series grabbed the headlines as a battle between two cocksure skippers. But two games into the series, Pietersen has been outclassed and outwitted in every department and the tour is turning out to be a nightmare. And the bad news is that Dhoni's super leadership skills have not even been tested. So far, the Indian captain has just sat on his barcalounger with a remote and turned on the Yuvraj channel that has blacked out all the thinking satellites of the English team.
Dhoni is winning and is far ahead and Pietersen doesn't have the best hand. To be fair to him, his team has been off-colour and may be, still in shock after the Stanford debacle. And before they could burry their sorrows, the Yuvraj avalanche has blown them away.
But all is not lost for the England captain. With five more games to go, there is time for Pietersen's troops to keep the series alive. For that to happen, England have to come out of their shells and take India head on. It is often said that teams don the personality of its skipper and England have to unite and be a Kevin Pietersen -- strong, aggressive and confident.
Andrew Flintoff will be England's answer to Yuvraj Singh and the all-rounder has to be the "superstar" his captain hailed him as after the ODI home series against South Africa. Pietersen has to bring his dynamic batting style in his captaincy and needs to shake off the embarrassing defeats his team has suffered as soon as he can. The rest of the England team needs to rise in what has been a one-sided series, to say the least.
Dhoni, on the other hand, will be guarding against complacency, as he will be aware that Pietersen has pulled off bigger miracles than this. And though, India have reigned supreme in Rajkot and Indore, England are down but still not out.
It would be one of the biggest challenges Pietersen will face as the captain and he knows that a landslide win by India here could mean disaster before the crucial Ashes. It doesn't take long in countries like England and India where sports is driven by passion for heroes to fall and their golden pasts to be superseded by their present failures.
Pietersen's career script has been authored to perfection so far but Dhoni's men have the eraser.
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Total Comments: 3
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Posted By
Nice article Shamik Ghosh, rarely i see sports articles written of this quality. It reminds of reading Hindu Sports page
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Posted By sanjudanu
I strongly believe in the aggressive batting line-up.If England need to win the remaining matches then I feel they need
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Posted By
Do not go overboard, just take care to sight me a match in which Dhoni has shown his
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