Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has responded to rumours on social media by expressing interest in taking over as batting coach of the Indian senior men’s squad.
According to recent rumours, Pietersen may be among the first candidates to be selected as a batting coach by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is seeking to strengthen the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching group. The veteran ended his storied career in 2018, but he has been actively engaged as a commentator ever since.
Kevin Pietersen replied, “Interested,” to a post on X about India’s purported hunt for a batting instructor.
The entire coaching staff was scrutinised during the review meeting following India’s loss on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour, which led the BCCI to consider employing a batting coach specifically for the team. When Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid as head coach, he was allowed to choose his own coaching staff, which now consists of Ryan ten Doeschate and Abhishek Nayar as assistant coaches and Morne Morkel as bowling coach. T Dilip, who was the fielding coach during the Rahul Dravid era, has remained in that role.
Many people consider Pietersen to be one of the best batters to have ever played for England. His career included 37 T20Is, 104 Tests, and 136 ODIs. In all three forms, the charismatic batter scored 8181, 4440, and 1176 runs. Pietersen scored 703 runs in Test cricket, including two hundreds, while averaging 43.93 in India. On Indian soil, he was instrumental in England’s historic 2-1 series victory over MS Dhoni’s team.
In addition, India will be playing England at home in a limited-overs series. The Three Lions are the opponent of the Men in Blue in three ODIs and five T20Is. The first Twenty20 International is scheduled on January 22 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. Teams will be focused on the Champions Trophy, though, which starts on February 19.
India
