The Forgotten Warriors Ep 8
Kevin Pietersen: @KP24
Ind vs Eng, 2nd Test, Wankhade, Mumbai-2012.
England had given 4-0 drubbing to Ind back in 2011 at home that had spicy seaming wickets. Therefore, in response, Ind decided to prepare..

..rank turners against the visitors in '12. Ind started off by humbling Eng in the 1st test eventhough the latter fought hard in the 2nd inns by scoring 406 after f/o. Cometh the 2nd test, Ind fielded 4 spinners @pragyanojha, @harbhajan_singh, @ashwinravi99 and @YUVSTRONG12

Adding to that, Ind had also won the toss and batted first. Thereon, thanks to Pujara's magnificent 135, posted a fighting 327 in the 1st inns on a spicy wicket that hard turn and bounce. In reply, Eng after a promising start had lost @TheNickCrompton and @Trotty in quick...

..succession. Eng 68/2, Cook 39*, in comes @KP24
--- KP in 2012--
@KP24's 2012 till then was a roller coaster ride. Professionally, the year started horrifically as he could score just 67 runs in 3 matches with a HS of 32 against Pak in UAE. He was then dropped from the team..

..after he had a spat with Strauss (then capt). However, before the spat, he had scored an equally amazing 151 against SL, followed that with a 149 vs SA in the 2nd test (his last in the series). He was then called into the team again for the test series in India.---

--- Back to the Mumbai test---
At 68/2, Cook needed support. @KP24 who had a poor start to the series as he was dismissed by Ojha for 17 and 2 in the 1st test. However, Ojha was not the only threat he had. He was also up against @harbhajan_singh who had dismissed him 6 times..

..across formats and @YUVSTRONG12 dismissed him on 5 occasions across formats and then there was crafty @ashwinravi99.
@KP24, however, cleared his counter-attacking intentions when he hit his first 4 against @harbhajan_singh by leaning forward to a wide-flighted ball..

..to mid off. The 6 ft 4 inch tall batsmen (with widest batting stance the world had seen) used his height and wrists to perfection. He read the line immaculately as he kept cutting the shorter lengths, or kept dancing down the track or ferociously slog sweeping spinners..

.. when they pitched it full. He also used his wrists and reach to send the ball over the cover region even when he looked nowhere near the ball. The aggressive disdainful innings ended when @KP24 edged one to @msdhoni off @pragyanojha but by then he had demolished the spin..

trio by scoring 186 off 233 balls that included 20 4s and 4 6s. His inngs made Wankhade crowd do what only few non-Indian players have been able to achieve while playing against Ind i.e. to make them stand and applaud an epic innings. It was this aggressive, & counter-attacking

.. inngs that helped Eng register their first series win in Ind since 1984-85 and retain No. 1 test ranking.
@KP24 : The Test Batsmen
Actually, The approach when the chips were down was KP's USP since the time he debuted as a golden hair young lad at the age of 25.

His test debut was against Aus in the famous 2005 Ashes series in which Eng ended the 16 year long drought of winning an Ashes series. Pietersen's 473 runs was easily the top in the run scoring list in the series. He was prolific in the following years as well..

..as he played many match defining knocks in his career. However, 2 of his best knocks are
158 vs Aus, 2005, The Oval
Eng were 2-1 up in the series and needed to secure a draw/win in the this test (5th test) to take the Ashes. On the final day, Aus attack came..

.. all guns blazing as Eng from 33/1 at the start of play were down to 67/3 in no time. In came @KP24 and his magic aggression. He scored 158 on the final day that made sure Eng had the Ashes and he had his 1st test century!
100 vs Pak, Faisalabad, 2005
While the ...

..mentioned Mumbai knock and the knock against SL (151) in Colombo were surely the best played by non-SC batsmen. This was equally special bcz it was his only vs Pak and that came on a slow turner when he was just a newbie in the int'al arena, that to in the 2nd inns!

@KP24 : Career in Numbers
He was among the best right from the beginning. As shown in the yearwise tally, he scored 1000 runs in the next 3 years post his debut. He avgd (54.8) the best when Eng where forced to bat 2nd. In terms of avgs against teams, @KP24 loved Ind!

As seen in Pic 3 and 4, his avg in Ind and SL were among the best. He was equally lethal against Ind at home. The only country he struggled playing against vs Pak and that was also due to @SaeedAjmal3 who had him 10 times across format!
In the pics , the measure..

..value of top 25 players who were best batting in the 2nd innings of the match has been listed. @KP24's metric was 24th in the list, and among the @ECB_cricket he was 7th best. He was also the 2nd highest run scorer in the year 2006 as shown, pic 2 show..

..show the metric calculation in the same year, since he had played more games than many others, his metric value placed him at 7. Segregation explained (pic 1). He was also among the best no. 4 in the world as shown in pic 2. He was 10th in terms of overall..

..metrics that included Runs, avg, NO, 50s and 100s. I subtracted inns value to decrease the variance b/w players due to the no. Of matches one play. Also, ducks are counted as failures. The success metric for no. 4 in the world positions @KP24 at 10! Among the SENA teams..

.. in the pic, @KP24 is just behind @jacqueskallis75 in the success metric while playing in the SC at no. 4 position. Overall, among SENA teams in SC, he is at no. 10 and 2nd among the Eng players till date. He was easily the best no. 4 (SENA) to play in Ind/SL.

He has scored 1055 runs at an avg of 44 and is 9th in the list of SENA runscorers in Asia. All in all, @KP24 played test cricket for 10 years and in that he crossed 1000 runs in a year 4 times (40% of tot yrs) and is among the few elite players to do so (in d last 160 yrs)

Among the best in Ashes
No English or Aussie player can be considered great if he hasn't performed well in The Ashes. @KP24 starting from 2005 made sure he ticked this box as well (pic1). Also in SC, his avg (81) was among the best in games won by the team.(pic2)

Conclusion
While I agree that the title of this series can be easily misleading since @KP24 is not yet forgotten atleast for an Ind fan who witnessed the Wankhade madness live but is he regarded the same across the world or in Eng? May be, May be not. Is he the best?..

.. then the answer is yes. While Cook was that stubborn guy who never liked getting out, @KP24 was one who humiliated attacks across the world. Who knows if he had played for 4-5 yrs more. He is surely Eng's 2nd best in the past 2 decades and I do my part in remembering him.

Hope you liked this thread. Do share your feedback and feel free to retweet this episode. To know more about @KP24 the ODI batsmen, please read the thread by @Plumb_infront https://twitter.com/Plumb_infront/status/1276802156721434624?s=19