‘Kevin Pieterson, yaad hai…’: England ex-cricketer hails India, with a dampener

“Wonder what Kevin Pieterson has to say today,” was the thought on many minds as India recorded a convincing win against England to level the four-match Test series 1-1. With the former England captain’s ‘yaad hai maine pehele hi chetawani di thi…’ barb fresh in Indian fans’ minds, many waited for his reaction to the defeat.

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And he did react, grudgingly congratulating India with a dampener. “Badhai ho india, England  B Ko harane ke liye,” he wrote with a wink emoji. He was harping on his earlier groan that England did not play its best team.

India defeated the visitors by 317 runs on Tuesday with a day to spare. England fell short while chasing a target of 482 runs on a turning track. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel took three and five wickets respectively in the second innings.

After English captain Joe Root led England to a victory by 227 run in first Test match earlier this month, Pieterson took to Twitter to rub in the defeat with a Hindi tweet. “India , yaad hai maine pehele hi chetawani di thi ke itna jasn na manaye jab aapne Australia ko unke ghar pe haraya tha”, tweeted Pietersen. (India, remember I had warned you in advance that don’t rejoice so much on defeating Australia).

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He had tweeted, “India – yeh aitihaasik jeet ka jashn manaye kyuki yeh sabhi baadhao ke khilaap hasil hui hai LEKIN , ASLI TEAM toh kuch hafto baad a rahi hai jisse aapko harana hoga apne ghar mein . Satark rahe , 2 saptaah mein bahut adhik jashn manaane se saavadhaan rahen”. “Celebrate this historic win… but the real team is landing in a few weeks, one that you will have to defeat, on home ground. Be wary of celebrating too much).  

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But the mood seemed to have changed after the second test started on February 13. After 15 wickets fell during the second day’s play in Chennai, he wrote in a cheeky, almost sarcastic, post, “If India had lost the toss, they’d have gone down 2-0. Very very brave! Well tossed.”

The cheeky post then gave way to finger-pointing. A day after blaming the turning pitch, the former cricketer blamed the visiting team for not picking their ‘best team’ against India in the second Test while sneaking in a compliment for Indian captain Virat Kohli. Pieterson’s lament being Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler’s absence from the playing squad.

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“He’s the greatest batter in the game of cricket playing right now – @imVkohli! England didn’t pick their best team so can’t complain. Missing Jimmy, BIG TIME!” he wrote. Veteran speedster James Anderson was rested for the second Test after having ruined India’s chances in the first Test at Chepauk.

The former cricketer followed it up with another tweet, “If England send Jos home, don’t pick Bairstow and leave out Jimmy, then it’s an Emirates flight for Broad tomorrow. Play any kid who can bowl 75mph with the keeper up.”

Incidentally, the former England captain was hailed as a hero in cricket-crazy India back in 2008 when he returned with his team for the Test series just days after the Mumbai attack.