Sticky wicket
Pietersen is working hard on his technique to regain top form
Dubai: Batsman Kevin Pietersen believes the example of Ricky Ponting shows why England should keep faith with him while he gets through a disappointing run of scores.
The flamboyant Pietersen endured a difficult Test series against Pakistan here and has started the One Day Internationals with scores of 14 and 26 when opening the batting with back-to-back centurion Alastair Cook.
But the 31-year-old insists the recent return to form of Australia's Ponting — who was reportedly close to being axed from the team following an extended run of poor scores — highlights how quickly fortunes can change.
"I am in very good form. I am just not getting the rub of the green at the moment," said Pietersen, whose highest score on the tour is his 41 against England Lions in an Abu Dhabi warm-up match.
"I am working on something. It is not a complete change of my technique, it is a very simple change. I don't need months and months to do it. So it is a challenge.
"Everyone has seen what Ricky Ponting faced. He went through the worst spell ever. People totally wrote him off. Now he is getting hundreds and two hundreds. He has been long enough to know what is to be done.
Close calls
"Fitness and form are two big things in any professional sportsman's life. At the moment I am very fit but form is not with me. So as soon as form catches fitness up I will be much better."
Pietersen has also been a victim of the Decision Review System's close calls. When asked whether his batting style has made him more susceptible to DRS verdicts, he said: "Yes, definitely. I used to bat by getting across and hit to the leg side. Everyone says that I played Shane Warne and Muralitharan so well. I played Warne and Muralitharan with my pad, but nowadays you literally cannot let the ball hit on the pads. It is not just me. It is for all batters."
Pietersen feels that one now has to defend the equivalent of five stumps. "With DRS you have to think that you have got four or five stumps to defend. In Dubai I was given out when the ball was clipping the leg stump.
"If it is crashing into leg stump I have no objection, but when it is clipping the leg stump I feel it's really unfair to the batsman. Clipping all around the wickets brings in five stumps."
Pietersen believes that England's upcoming tour to India will be exciting. "We have identified before the third Test match that we have a lot of work to do in the spin department. India is going to be huge series and whenever England plays India it is a massive series.
"Sri Lanka is also going to be big series because it is Test match cricket. We have got some very hard work to do. All of us including myself have accepted to do some hard work because it will be amazing to win in India at the end of the year. It will be amazing for the England team," he said.
