Currently, England expelled cricketer Kevin Pietersen is thinking about playing for his native country South Africa in future.
Pietersen told on Friday, “Yes, it is a thought in my head. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Obviously, playing international is something I have done for a very long time. Do I miss playing international cricket? Do I miss batting in international cricket? Yes, I do very much so you never know.”
According to the ICC’s regulations, once a player has represented a Test-playing nation, he must wait for four years to represent another team. In January 2014, Pietersen has played last time in the international cricket for England against Australia in the fifth Ashes Test. At present, 35-years old Kevin Pietersen will eligible to play for South Africa in 2017. However, he is still waiting for an England call-up before eligibility to play for his birth land.
Pietersen said, “The eligibility for South Africa is still a year away. So we will have to wait and see but it (an English call-up) is definitely still an option.”
However, Pietersen is very far from the international cricket, but if he performs well in the several domestic cricket T20 leagues will have a chance sooner rather than later. In the recent performances, at the Ram Slam T20 challenge 2015/16(premier T20 competition in South Africa) he finished as the second most run scorer (401 runs in 7 matches). On the other hand, Pietersen ended with the 3rd most runs scorer (323 runs in 9 matches) in the Big Bash League 2015/16 (premier T20 competition in Australia) while he scored 215 runs (in 9 matches) in the Pakistan Super League 2015/16 (professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan).
Pietersen spoke out about his recent batting form, “I am in a great frame of mind now. I enjoy myself and don’t take life too seriously. I still train hard and love batting, I love practicing my batting, I love the art of batting. It may not guarantee me getting runs, but it gives me a good chance to get runs.”
Despite his absence in the international cricket, Pietersen’s popularity is hardly affected. The cricket fans still admire his performances in the various domestic cricket leagues. Pietersen said on it, “There is no issue at all (jumping from one league to another). I am very lucky that I have played international cricket for 10 years and over 100 Test matches. So when you walk into a dressing room, it is very easy to get along with people because you know most of them.”
Pietersen is now ready to take another a new challenge in the IPL (Indian Premier League) 2016, where he will be playing for the new IPL team Rising Pune Supergiants.