Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has taken one of his social media critics to task for questioning his credentials in Twenty20 cricket. On Friday (April 13), an Australia-based cricket writer named ‘Gav Joshi’ on his Twitter account wrote: “Still not sure why people rate KP so highly in T20 cricket. Failed to set the IPL alight in 5 yrs, nothing outrageous in BBL. Best format still Test cricket by a mile. Only fame to glory was 2010 T20 wcup #IPL”.
Still not sure why people rate KP so highly in T20 cricket. Failed to set the IPL alight in 5 yrs, nothing outrageous in BBL. Best format still Test cricket by a mile. Only fame to glory was 2010 T20 wcup #IPL
— Gav Joshi (@Gampa_cricket) April 13, 2018
Pietersen, who recently bid adieu from competitive cricket, retorted savagely by asking the critic to count his T20 World Cups and Man of the Series awards in World T20.
“How many T20 World Cups & Man of the T20 World Cups have you got mate?! Shut up!” KP wrote in his reply.
How many T20 World Cups & Man of the T20 World Cups have you got mate?! Shut up!
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) April 13, 2018
Soon after Pietersen’s hard-hitting response, New Zealand speedster Mitchell McClenaghan fuelled fire in the conversation, saying: “That escalated quickly - love it ????????????”.
That escalated quickly - love it ????????????
— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) April 13, 2018
Pietersen then stated that’s the only way to deal with critics who try to act smart by nitpicking things.
“Only one way to deal with f...wits buddy!” KP replied.
Only one way to deal with f...wits buddy!
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) April 13, 2018
Kevin Pietersen’s response may be a tad ruthless, but he is quite spot on. The 37-year-old has scored 1176 Twent20 International runs for England in 37 matches at an impressive average of 37.93 besides the phenomenal strike-rate of 141.51. Even in the Indian Premier League, KP has proved his mettle by playing for different franchises. The swashbuckling right-hander boasts 1001 runs to his name in IPL with an average and strike-rate of 35.75 and 134.72 respectively.