The No. 4 who wants to look after No. 1
When it comes to polarising opinion, there are few sportsmen in Kevin Pietersen’s league
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
When it comes to polarising opinion, there are few sportsmen in Kevin Pietersen’s league. We all know him to be a wonderful batsman, quite possibly the best we have seen playing for the England team this last quarter-century. But the thing that divides us is his renowned tendency to selfishness, writes Mathew Syed in the Times.
His admirers contend that this is, if not quite admirable, certainly indispensable to the Pietersen phenomenon; that his view of the universe as Pietersen-centric is part of the reason why he is able to bat with the swagger and confidence that strikes such fear into the heart of opposition captains. Take away the selfishness, they say, and you take away the genius.
The rest of us query this psychological justification for Pietersen’s unbridled egoism. We offer the observation that greater sportsmen than he have been able to excel without also feeling the need to elevate their own interests so far above those of the team. We also point out that learning, on occasion, to yield oneself to a larger ideal is not just what it means to be part of a team, but is also what it means to grow up.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo