Kevin Pietersen-ECB saga: KP’s latest revelations might add fuel to fire

Kevin Pietersen lashed out recently against a certain crop of players from the current England squad who he accused of creating a bullying culture within the dressing room. Amit Banerjee ponders on what impact this might have on his sour relations with the ECB as well as on the scandal as a whole.

Kevin Pietersen has had a roller coaster of a career so far and it seems to be touching new lows with each passing day. Dropped from the England squad after the team’s disastrous Ashes tour at the start of the year, Pietersen has hit out at certain players as well as former coach Andy Flower in a recent interview. While his relations with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) continue to go downhill with each passing day, the latest accusations by Pietersen should serve to worsen it further.

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In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, the South African-born batsman hit out at players such as former spinner Graeme Swann, pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad and wicket-keeper Matt Prior. He also accused Flower of massaging the egos of the accused players, of not taking the necessary action in order to nip the growing evil in the bud.

While Pietersen may have made the allegations in order to get even with the board and with the players he might have had a beef against, it definitely has raised Pietersen’s feud with the board to a whole new level. He still hopes for a spot in the squad according to statements made by him in the aforementioned interview. Under such circumstances, he may have added fuel to the ongoing fire. If he harbours hopes of rejoining the team, which he was affirmative of in the Telegraph interview, he will have a much more difficult time in reintegrating himself with the team.

Though his claims are unconfirmed as of now, they should serve to stir the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) into investigating into the said offences that took place in the dressing room and went unreported until now. A positive dressing room culture would benefit the entire team in terms of a better show on the field and would be required now more than ever with the World Cup just around the corner.

Pietersen broke his silence on the treatment that the ECB has meted out to him during the infamous ‘text message’ scandal, where he felt that he received a treatment harsher that what he deserved. He was shown the door by the ECB for sending text messages to the opposition during South Africa’s tour of England in 2012, where he made some insulting references to skipper Andrew Strauss, which he referred to as ‘banter’.

With Pietersen’s statements coinciding with the release of his autobiography, KP, one can expect more worms to crawl out of a can that has been slightly pried open. Though the South Africa-born cricketer has already had a huge collection of achievements in his nine-year career so far, he would certainly not want to end his career amidst a pool of controversies. It would be somewhat difficult for him to pull himself out this pit given how deep it has been dug so far.

More from Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography here

(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)