Kevin Pietersen and Zaheer Khan. 17 years removed from their infamous Jellybean incident, the two former cricketers were involved in a friendly banter involving none other than the legendary MS Dhoni. The world knows that Pietersen was almost dismissed by Dhoni in the 2011 but not many are aware that four years ago, KP had dismissed MSD for his second wicket in a Test match at The Oval. Dhoni was batting on 92 when Pietersen slipped one through to get to castle the former India wicketkeeper. And it’s something he will probably remember for the rest of his life.
So when Pietersen was asked about his Test wickets, he put out a brutal reminder of his success against Dhoni all those years ago, only to get a befitting reply from Zaheer. It all began when both were asked about their Test wickets, with Pietersen’s mind harking back to his maiden Test wicket, when he dismissed Kamran Akmal at Lord’s. It was then Zaheer’s turn to name his 300th wicket, and his guess of Jacques Kallis proved correct. As Pietersen praised Zak for his recollection, he couldn’t help but bring up the Dhoni dismissal. From there, the conversation flowed during the lunch interval on Day 4 of the 2nd India vs England Test.
Here’s the conversation between Pietersen and Zaheer about Dhoni and Yuvraj
Kevin Pietersen: You know who else I’ve got in my pocket here? The great Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Right there, there he is next to Kamran Akmal.
Zaheer Khan: You know I met Yuvraj Singh recently and he was talking about Kevin Pietersen being there.
Kevin Pietersen: Yeah, I knew it. I knew you were going to say that.
Zaheer was clearly referring to how many times Yuvraj dismissed Pietersen back in the day. In fact, if there was ever a time to use the word ‘bunny’, it was for Pietersen when it came to facing Yuvraj, who dismissed him five times in ODIs, more than any other bowler in the world. The conversation went on.
Kevin Pietersen: Yuvraj got me a few times (with a laugh).
Zaheer Khan: I remember him (KP) giving him (Yuvraj) a special nickname as well.
Kevin Pietersen: Yeah, and he used it as his e-mail ID too for a while. We’ve had some great battles, some beautiful battles on the field and that’s what happens when you play for such a long time. The good thing is you can speak about it and have fun with it. It’s the same thing a guy like Ashwin would do with Ben Stokes when their careers are finished. They will be having a laugh, having a joke like this.
Pieterse was on fire with the mic during his time in the first two Tests, but now that he has flown back to England, it will be interesting to see who replaces him in the broadcast panel.
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