The renowned red-ball competition, which is today well recognised as an inter-zonal competition, was not always solely an Indian-only affair. Beginning with the 2003–04 season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India made the ground-breaking decision to accept foreign teams. Along with a relatively unknown Kevin Pietersen on tour, England A travelled to India.
He credits that specific Duleep Trophy season as the primary cause of his enthralled affection for India, despite having enjoyed a fruitful ten-year international career with England. The former English cricket player recently acknowledged the same on social media.
The former top-order hitter was yet to play for England despite having enjoyed prosperous domestic seasons in England. The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) carefully considered his inclusion in the England A team before deciding to include him. The goal was to give him experience playing against the finest in the industry and to expose him to the circumstances of the rapidly changing Asian subcontinent.
Kevin Pietersen was the leading run scorer in that tournament, with 345 runs in just four innings.
His bat did the talking. Many were drawn in by his attacking ability, which was on full show in the match against South Zone, where he scored hundreds in both innings (104 and 115) and played at a rate far higher than most of the hitters on both sides.
In the subsequent England A match against East Zone, Kevin Pietersen batting demonstrated yet another facet. He amassed 32 runs in the opening innings and was the only player to score in the second, falling just six runs short of a century. In fact, the next highest scorer in that innings failed to reach even half of Pietersen’s total. It’s interesting to note that the opposition’s first batter was a youthful MS Dhoni. In that game, he scored 29 and 52, respectively.
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Pietersen’s first-hand experience on Indian soil proved invaluable, as it paved the way for him to become one of the most formidable hitters against spin. In terms of the longest format of the game, his record against India in India is quite impressive. Before retiring from international cricket, the batsman had amassed 703 runs in 16 innings in India, including four half-centuries and two tonnes.
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