He's tall, he's loud, he's brash ... but "KP" is also a superb batsman, capable of annexing many of England's Test records before he's done. He reached 1000 one-day runs in just 21 matches - equalling Viv Richards' record - while he made more runs in his first 25 Tests than anyone else except Don Bradman. He's strong on the drive, with a crunching pull and hook, while his signature shot is the "flamingo" - a wristy pull-drive played with back foot balletically off the ground. There's also the switch-hit reverse sweep, which needed a ruling on its legality from MCC.

Pietersen's career path has been unconventional, starting with his decision to quit South Africa in protest at a racial-quota system which, he felt, was hindering him. Back then he was seen more as an offspinner who could bat a bit, but in county cricket it was immediately apparent that description was back to front. The runs flowed, and it was no surprise when, as soon as he was eligible, he played one-dayers for England in Zimbabwe late in 2004. A good display there resulted in a late call-up for the tour that followed in South Africa, where Pietersen clouted three superb centuries to silence crowds which booed him as a turncoat.

Test cricket beckoned, and he made his debut under more pressure, being preferred to the 100-Test veteran Graham Thorpe for the 2005 Ashes. Pietersen started with two half-centuries at Lord's, then ensured the return of the urn after 17 years with a stroke-filled 158 at The Oval. The next five years were a whirl of runs and celebrity engagements, plus a short-lived tilt at the England captaincy. That started well, with a century and victory against South Africa at The Oval in 2008, but ended in recriminations early the following year after a falling-out with the coach, Peter Moores. Pietersen recommended, rather too publicly, that Moores be removed ... and got his way, only to be summarily sacked as well.

The flak probably affected Pietersen more than he cared to admit. Before the captaincy debacle, abuse had rarely fazed him. Early on he reacted to some banter in a club game in Australia by announcing that it was bad form to sledge the man of the match before he'd batted: money followed mouth with a century.

Injuries have been a worry - that 2009 Ashes campaign was cut short by leg trouble that needed surgery - but when fit and fired up Pietersen is a bowler's nightmare, and the wicket England's opponents crave the most. He can dominate most bowling attacks, but he tends to have more than his fair share of problems against left-arm spin because of his tendency to play around the straight ball and get trapped in front of the stumps.

At the end of an an unproductive 2010 season, Pietersen was dropped for the first time by England - an indignity to which he reacted with an ill-advised "tweet" - but the bold decision paid dividends. On the subsequent Ashes tour, he ended a 20-month wait for an international century by making a career-best 227 in England's innings victory at Adelaide, their first in a "live" Ashes Test in Australia for 24 years.
Steven Lynch

• March 6, 1998
  A gentle offspinner makes his debut
  • Pietersen makes his first-class debut for Natal 'B' against Easterns at Kingsmead aged just 17. Regarded primarily as an offspinner and lower-order batsman at this stage of his career, Pietersen took one wicket in the match and, batting at no.8, made an unbeaten three in his only innings.
    
• December 1999
  Graeme Swann, 10 years earlier
  • Impresses members of the touring England side, including Nasser Hussain, during an England XI warm-up match against KwaZulu-Natal at Kingsmead, clearing the boundary four times on his way to an unbeaten 57-ball 61. He also picks up four top-order wickets with his handy offspin.
    
• October 2000
  Mother's love
  • Signs a three-year contract with Nottinghamshire in the year he turns 20. Pietersen, who has a British passport courtesy of his English mother, tells a South African newspaper "I'm not turning my back on South African cricket", but eventually decides to throw in his lot with Nottinghamshire, saying that the "guarantee of three years of high-quality cricket" with Nottinghamshire was "a career opportunity too good to turn down."
    
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• April 21, 2001
  Start as you mean to go on
  • Pietersen cracks his maiden first-class hundred on debut for Nottinghamshire against Loughborough UCCE at Trent Bridge. It is a typically bellicose knock, with Pietersen reaching 122 from 147 balls, with three sixes, before being stumped.
    
• April to September, 2001
  A star ascends
  • Pietersen powers his way to 1275 first-class runs at 57.95 in his first season for Nottinghamshire. The highlight of the season is his unbeaten double-hundred against Derbyshire.
    
• April to September, 2002
  Second season blues
  • Pietersen's second season of English domestic cricket, proves to be less fruitful than the first, but he still manages 737 runs in 10 County Championship games and two hundreds in the Norwich Union League. His unbeaten 254 against Middlesex earns widespread acclaim, and he follows that up with 122 in a Norwich Union League game against Somerset, and a championship hundred against Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge, to storm to three hundreds in as many games.
    
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• February to March 2004
  Man among boys
  • Tours India with England A and despite the visitors losing every match Pietersen's reputation towers, as he finishes with three centuries in six innings at 104.60 from the first-class games and 50.66 from the three-match ODI series against India A, including a 122-ball 131 in the second game.
    
• October 2004
  Heave-ho and time to go
  • After another successful county season, and one month from qualifying to play for England, Pietersen's bristling intent on making it at the highest level sees him leave Nottinghamshire to join Shane Warne's Hampshire in Division One.
    
• November 28, 2004
  Calm before the storm
  • Having served his four-year qualification period Pietersen is immediately called up to make his debut against Zimbabwe. He starts quietly with 27 from 57 balls to guide England to the first of four easy victories.
    
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• January to February 2005
  Homecoming king
  • Pietersen arrives back to the country of his birth swinging from the hip. He has a pop at the South African system, the South African captain but most memorably, the South African bowlers. Boos turned to gasps, as the home crowd were treated 108*, 75, 100 from 69 balls and 116 as Pietersen ends the seven-match series with 473 runs. Confirms his unwavering 'Englishness' by unreservedly pashing the England crest on his helmet upon reaching his first hundred before emblazoning his shoulder with a giant three-lions tattoo. English cricket finally unearths the gem that Graeme Hick was supposed to have been 13 years before.
    
• June 19, 2005
  A statement of intent
  • With anticipation ahead of the 2005 Ashes building into a crescendo unseen in English cricket for decades, Pietersen took his omission from the Test's against Bangladesh on the chin and announced himself to home crowds with a dazzling 91 from 65 deliveries to power England to victory in the first ODI against Australia of the summer in Bristol. His composure and relish for big-match pressure became a feature of the summer.
    
• July 21, 2005
  Starting with style
  • In a frantic opening Test at Lord's, Pietersen silenced any suspicions that his destructive approach would come unstuck with a pair of fifties as Australia beat England. Fourth England player to top-score in both innings on debut.
    
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• September 12, 2005
  Counter attack
  • With England needing a draw to secure the Ashes at The Oval, Pietersen arrives at the crease with England only four wickets down with a slender 115 lead. Dropped twice before he reached double figures and shaken by a vicious bouncer attack from Brett Lee before lunch, Pietersen sauntered in after the break and smashed the bowling all round south London. He hurtled to 158, making the game and the series safe for England and taking the man-of-the-match award.
    
• October 2005
  One to watch
  • After less than a year in international cricket, Pietersen is named ICC One-day player of the year and ICC Emerging player of the year.
    
• May 2006
  Three in a row
  • Scores 158 at Lord's against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the summer and follows it up with 142 in the next Test at Edgbaston, which including his 158 against Australia to close of the 2005 summer makes him the first England player since Graham Gooch to make hundreds in three consecutive innings. Enters the top ten in the world rankings.
    
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• November 2006 to April 2007
  A class apart
  • The wheels come off for England as they are demolished 5-0 by the Ricky Ponting's revenge-filled Australians before being dumped out of the World Cup in the Super-eight stage. Pietersen is the only player to impress for England, but the responsibility of shoring up a brittle batting line up blunts his flamboyant strokeplay as he settles for clinical run getting. His 158 in the first innings at Adelaide and 104 against the same side at in the World Cup confirm his status as the England's best player.
    
• May 2007
  Ruthless run-making
  • Welcomes West Indies with a 109 in a run-glut draw in the first Test at Lord's before following it with a double hundred in the second Test at Headingley.
    
• March 22, 2008
  Back with a bang
  • In the crucial deciding Test against New Zealand at Napier, England were staring down the barrel when Pietersen came to the crease at 4 for 2. While he tried to bed himself in England collapsed to 36 for four. However, with a patience rarely apparent in his approach he cajoled to lower order to take England to 253, finishing on 129 from 208 deliveries.
    
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• July 10, 2008
  Crowd favourite
  • Having left the country of his birth to play for England, before returning to South Africa to rip their attack apart to announce himself on the world stage, the touring South Africans had a clear target for their big pace line-up to aim at. Yet, in his first Test against them, at Lord's he strokes his way to 152. The extended ovation he received up on reaching the milestone moved him to declare "I've never felt so loved".
    
• August 4, 2008
  Captain fantastic
  • After Michael Vaughan's tearful farewell, Pietersen is appointed England captain. The man to lead in all formats, he settles murmurs that the responsibility may affect his batting by scoring a century in his first Test in charge at the Oval. Goes on to lead England to a 4-0 rout of South Africa in the one-day series.
    
• December 31, 2008
  Mission aborted
  • Having been asked by the ECB to fulfil his 'end-of-term report' at the conclusion of the India tour, news breaks on new year's eve that Pietersen wants Moores removed as coach, telling his bosses: "I can't lead this team forward and take it to the West Indies if Peter Moores is coach." The bold move backfires as the ECB publicise the entire debacle - seemingly sharing Pietersen's assessment by firing Moores before 'accepting' a resignation from Pietersen which he insists he never made.
    
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• February 2009
  Back in the ranks
  • With question marks surrounding Pietersen in the first Test since the conclusion on his brief captaincy stint, he responds with 97 against in the first innings against West Indies at Kingstown but a rash shot to get out, followed by England's second-innings collapse leaves many frustrated.
    
• April 10, 2009
  'Dumbslog millionaire'
  • Becomes, along with England team-mate and rival Andrew Flintoff, the IPL's most expensive player, signing for Royal Chargers Bangalore for $1.55 million. Has a disappointing tournament and worsens a long-standing Achilles injury.
    
• July 8, 2009
  It's the way I play
  • Looking well-set on 69 in the first-Test of the 2009 Ashes at Cardiff Pietersen attempts an awkward and senseless sweep to Nathan Hauritz and is caught behind. His dismissal opens the door for Australia to charge through and dominate. He defends the shot insisting it's just the way he plays.
    
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• July 22, 2009
  Limps out of the limelight
  • Fails to make an impression on one of cricket's biggest stages - the Ashes Test at Lord's and the Achilles injury rules him out of the rest of the summer as he heads for the operating table.
    
• November 2009 to January 2010
  Nightmare return
  • Having waited his entire career to play a Test in the country of his birth, Pietersen has endures a torrid tour to South Africa. Looking uncharacteristically tense at the crease the runs dry up following a hideous run out in the first Test at Centurion for 81. Ends the series with 177 runs at 25.28.
    
• December 3-7, 2010
  Destroying Australia
  • England roll over Australia by an innings in Adelaide, and Pietersen plays a big role, scoring 227, his highest in Tests.
    
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• July-August 2011
  An Indian summer
  • Pietersen starts the four-Test home series against India by scoring an unbeaten 202 at Lord's, and finishes it with 175 at The Oval. His tally for the series is 533, easily his highest ever.
    
• January-February 2012
  Misery against Pakistan
  • From his best series to his worst: in three Tests against Pakistan, he scores 67 at an average of 11.16, his poorest average in a series ever.
    
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