Arguably one of the world’s best batsmen. Certainly the best batsman to have played for England. 13,500+ international runs including 32 international centuries and the numbers speak for themselves. We’re talking about South African born Kevin Pietersen who has had plenty of ups and downs in his international career, leaving us with several fond memories and good knocks around the world.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) in particular was a massive chapter in Pietersen’s life as he was often regarded as a ‘mercenary’ in England for choosing the high-paying IPL T20 job rather than playing county cricket at home. Being one of the most expensive players and one of the first Englishmen to play in the IPL, he represented 5 different franchises but none would’ve been more special than Delhi Daredevils for him!
Let’s take you back to one special evening in IPL 2012 when Pietersen was representing the Daredevils in a game against the now defunct Deccan Chargers. On the night of 19th April 2012, Delhi had to chase down 158 and it was made possible because of a marvellous knock from KP, ending with an IPL career best score of 103(64)*.
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While he did have a long career, KP didn’t really get enough of time in the IPL and having played in the tournament between 2009-2016, he only got 36 IPL matches. However, his class shows in his IPL batting average of 37+ and a huge reason for this high average was this century that gave Daredevils a much needed win, a franchise which was recently rebranded to Delhi Capitals.
This innings was the 20th entry in the list of all-time IPL centuries while it was Pietersen’s first (and only) IPL century, one that he won’t forget anytime soon. That night, both openers Naman Ojha and Virender Sehwag were dismissed in single digits and DD was reduced to 23/3 early on, with Sri Lankan maestro Mahela Jayawardene also being sent to the pavilion with a single digit score.
The situation was a tough one and demanded a lot of dedication and focus to pull Daredevils out of the hole they managed to dig themselves. A little over an hour later, KP had smashed 6 fours and 9 massive sixes in that innings. He was running short of partners but he stayed true to the task, finishing the game off with another huge hit on the first ball of the 20th over, also bringing up his first and only IPL century!
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In an innings where no other batsman stuck in, it was a no-brainer that KP was awarded the Man of the Match for his splendid, match-winning effort. In the 6th wicket partnership, it was Yogesh Nagar who stuck around for 23(15)* to support Kevin Pietersen as Delhi registered a 5-wicket victory that night, eventually topping the table in IPL 2012 with 11 wins in their 16 round robin games.
In all, Pietersen scored 1,001 runs in 36 IPL matches but that season was his best in terms of runs scored, recording a total of 305 runs in 8 games with a batting average of 60+! We try to look back into some of the most iconic and memorable days in the history of the Indian Premier League and to get similar throwbacks in the future, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
