Kevin Pietersen is a professional cricketer born in South Africa but he plays for England. He bats right handed and is a right handed off spin bowler. Apart from representing England in international cricket, he also plays for the Surrey Lions in the English county league. He has also represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League or the IPL in its second and third seasons, and was captain in his second season with them.
He captained the English national team for a brief period between 2008 and 2009, leading the side onto the field in only three tests and a total of nine One Day Internationals but after a dispute with the then national team coach he resigned.
Born in the city of Pietermaritzburg in Natal province, South Africa, Kevin Pietersen grew up idolizing some of the legends of the game such as Sir Vivian Richards, Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. He made his first class debut for the Natal Province team. However, the racial quota that was prevalent in the national team selection process highly made him think that he would find it very difficult to get into the national side and as a result, he shifted to England. Because his mother is English, he was eligible to play for England after playing domestic cricket for four years. He joined the Nottinghamshire Outlaws and played for them and after the required four years Kevin was called up to join the national side.
The flamboyant Pietersen made his One Day International debut against Zimbabwe and test debut against Australia in the Ashes series. One of the greatest players of his generation, and the most consistent players in the English side, Kevin was rewarded with an MBE.