I’d just had enough of game – KP
KEVIN Pietersen has revealed he decided to call time on his career after realising he no longer had it in him to improve.
The 37-year-old announced his retirement at the weekend after deciding not to take part in the Pakistan Super League play-offs, ending a career in which he scored 23 centuries in 104 Tests.
He walks away as England’s second-highest run scorer of all time across all three formats of the game, despite being exiled from the national set-up following the divisive 2013/14 Ashes whitewash.
“I’ve had enough,” said Pietersen. “Twenty overs of fielding feels like playing a Test so it’s time to hang up the boots. I’ve got better and bigger things to go on to now.
“I’ve had a wonderful career but I just don’t think I’ve got it in me to keep improving or try to improve.”
While his on-field brilliance was clear, Pietersen emerged as a divisive figure in the England dressing room, culminating in an announcement from the England and Wales Cricket Board in February 2014 that, at 33, he would no longer be considered for selection.
Pietersen insisted he had no regrets.
“Being a South African in an English dressing room is occasionally frowned upon but I felt incredibly accepted and I loved my career,” he said.
“I didn’t mind pressing buttons to try and achieve really good things and to get the best out of people I had to press buttons they didn’t like.
“Unfortunately, or fortunately, that’s my character. I strive to be the best I can possibly be and help others be the best they can be and sometimes I rubbed them up the wrong way. I said things they were uncomfortable with.
“It is what it is. I had a pretty cool time doing my job and it really is one of the greatest things calling yourself a professional sportsman.”