Harry Brook made the bold decision to back out of his lucrative Indian Premier League deal with Delhi Capitals consultant Kevin Pietersen offering his thoughts
Kevin Pietersen has told Harry Brook he missed the chance to fix a “big flaw” when he pulled out of his £550,000 Indian Premier League deal. The former England captain and box-office batsman, now a batting consultant at Delhi Capitals, admits he was “bitterly disappointed” when Brook jilted the franchise to focus on his international commitments – and told him so.
But Pietersen, who unfurled some of England’s greatest innings of all time in both Test and one-day cricket – still regards Yorkshire’s rising star as a supreme talent.
England’s new white-ball captain withdrew from his IPL contract for the second season running when he was anointed as Jos Buttler’s successor last month.
Brook incurred a two-year ban from the tournament after staying away for personal reasons following the death of his grandmother last year and then putting England first in 2025.
Pietersen’s outrageous switch-hits and one-legged ‘flamingo’ whips through midwicket set him apart in the early 2000s, when Lord’s power-brokers regarded the IPL with suspicion and metropolitan snootiness.
READ MORE: England cricket star hits back as Kevin Pietersen doubles down on criticismREAD MORE: England to field inexperienced attack as they name first Test squad of the summer
But England now virtually drive contracted players to the airport to take part in the world ’s richest competition – and KP admits he was saddened to miss out on the chance to mentor Brook.
He said: “I was like, ‘Dude, I’m gutted that I can’t work with you for a few months.’ I think that he is a star – you don’t hit one ball over extra cover and the next, same ball, over midwicket if you can’t play.
“So he can properly play, but he has technical flaws in the subcontinent – in India, in particular. I really wanted to work with him, but people make their own choices in life and you’ve got to respect them.
“He has a flaw playing spin in India – a real big flaw. Two months here, imagine what might have happened if he had fixed that?”
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Although his BlackBerry text message exchange with South African players during a Test match in 2012 was ill-advised and unprofessional correspondence, Pietersen was treated disgracefully as the fall-guy of a 5-0 Ashes wipeout.
The blazers who effectively sacked him were oblivious to KP’s influence on younger players, many of whom turned to Pietersen for advice before and after he was jettisoned.
And Pietersen’s batting tutorials during interval breaks as a Sky Sports pundit were always a must-watch for aspiring batters at any level.
He told Cricinfo: “I would have worked the same with him (Brook) as I did with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow at the start of their careers. Root turned out to be the greatest player of spin England’s ever had. I’m not saying it’s because of what we did when he was a youngster, but we spent hours together batting in the nets, going through drills and practising. I love that stuff.”
England begin their international summer on May 22 with a four-day Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge.
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