(Cricinfo) Kevin Pietersen’s return to the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad has been scuppered by a calf injury suffered while making the triple-century for Surrey that helped build a tidal wave of protest at his continued England freeze-out.
Andrew Strauss, England’s new director of cricket, has blocked any potential Pietersen comeback this summer because of “massive trust issues” that soured the later stages of his England career and have contributed to his 18 months in the international wilderness.
That decision seemed to signal a speedy return for Pietersen to play for Sunrisers in the final stages of the IPL but he had a scan on a damaged calf in London yesterday and returned to the Kia Oval with a noticeable limp. The prognosis was that the injury was expected to take a couple of weeks to heal.
His mood was soon to be enhanced as Surrey, led by their openers Steve Davies and Jason Roy, pulled off a dramatic run chase against Leicestershire, ensuring that his unbeaten 355 – the highest score of his life – would at least set up a victory for his county, if not resurrect his England career.
Sunrisers’ CEO K Shanmugam had announced that Pietersen would join the team on Friday in Hyderabad. He was bought by the franchise in this year’s auction but was allowed to return home to England to play county cricket at his request. They lie third in the IPL table and had hoped that Pietersen would give them additional firepower in their last home game against Mumbai Indians on Sunday as they press for a top-four place.
Tom Moody, the head coach, had also been excited by his return. “It is great news that KP will be joining us earlier than planned,” he said. “To add a world-class batsman to our squad at the business end of the tournament is a huge bonus.”
Pietersen’s priority will now be to recover fitness in time for his stint with St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League. His future with Surrey remains uncertain.
Sunrisers purchased Pietersen at his base price of 2 crore rupees (approximately GBP 200,000) at the IPL player auction in February. They agreed to release Pietersen ahead of the season to allow him to press for England selection.
In an irate column for the Telegraph newspaper Pietersen accused the ECB of being “deceitful”. He signed off the column by confirming he would be flying out to India to honour his IPL commitments.
“Under the agreement of releasing me from my IPL contract, Sunrisers Hyderabad have the right to recall me for the final stages of the tournament, so on Friday – at their request – I’ll be travelling out to India,” he wrote. “It’ll give me a good opportunity to cool down and assess what I’m going to do next. I’m just sorry it won’t be putting on an England shirt.”
Should they qualify for the knockout stages, Sunrisers will also be without their New Zealand pair of fast bowler Trent Boult and batsman Kane Williamson, who will leave after Sunday’s game to join the national squad ahead of their first Test against England starting on May 21.
However, they can count on the encouraging form of Eoin Morgan and Moises Henriques besides captain David Warner and the availability of Dale Steyn, who has been part of the playing XI in just four games so far.
Sunrisers’ retention of Williamson has caused New Zealand to abandon plans to field him – albeit belatedly – in their final pre-Test warm-up which begins against Worcestershire in Worcester on Thursday. Corey Anderson will still travel up to Worcester as planned on Thursday but Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Brendon McCullum will arrive early next week, along with Williamson.
