Last Updated:February 13, 2025, 10:58 IST

Kevin Pietersen continues his rant over England allegedly skipping training for the second and third ODIs of their three-match series vs India which they lost 3-0.

Kevin Pietersen isn’t willing to entertain any defense of England cricket team choosing to skip practice sessions for golf during their recent white-ball tour of India that saw them suffer defeat in seven out of eight games across formats. Pietersen has lashed out at Jos Buttler’s men for not trying hard enough to give India a fight as they first lost a five-match T20I series 1-4 before being clean swept 3-0 in the ODI series that followed.

In his latest post on X, Pietersen has claimed to have been sent an article by a UK journo who claims that England skipped the training because of “injuries” and “quick turnaround” between games.

“Just got sent an article where a leading UK journo has said that Shastri & I got it wrong last night when discussing England not training,” Pietersen wrote.

“Reason – injuries and quick turnaround between games…!” he added.

In an X-rated rant that followed, Pietersen, one of the finest batters to have played for England, advised the said journo to stop covering cricket for writing “such rubbish”.

“Do me a f*****g favour! Stop writing about cricket if you’re going to write such rubbish. Injuries are part of sport and this schedule is like every bilateral series almost ever played. Injuries are NOT stopping batters from batting against net bowlers and learning the art of playing spin. And that’s where they should have been to IMPROVE!” Pietersen wrote.

“Trust me on this one as it saved my career against spin! It seems the journos are in cahoots with what we’re trying to be brainwashed into believing! You won’t fool the fan with such!” he added.

The Reason Behind KP’s Rant

Ravi Shastri while on commentary duties for the 3rd ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday claimed that he’s heard England have “had just one net session this entire trip, if not any.” and said the team didn’t work hard enough to show improvement.

In response, Pietersen vented his frustration during a post-match show on Star Sports and then on social media.

“I’m sorry, but I am absolutely gobsmacked that England did not have ONE team practice session since losing the 1st ODI and losing the T20 series. How can this be? Seriously, how? I believe Joe Root was the only player to have a net this series, post Nagpur,” he posted.

Buttler’s Response

England captain Jos Buttler though defended his team after Shastri’s on-air claim.

“I’m not sure that’s quite true, to be honest. We had a reasonably long tour, a few long travel days. There’s been a couple of times we’ve not trained, but we’ve certainly done plenty of training throughout the tour,” Buttler said.