Kevin Pietersen slams modern day bowling; name drops 22 of best bowlers from his era

Kevin Pietersen’s words came after Joe Root became the second-highest run-getter in test cricket.

By asserting that batting is “way easier” now than it was 20–25 years ago, England great Kevin Pietersen has ignited a new controversy and alluded to a drop in bowling quality in test-playing countries.

A day after teammate England batter Joe Root overtook Australia great Ricky Ponting to take second position on the all-time list of test run-scorers, Pietersen made his remarks on social media.

Joe Root now has 13409* runs in 157* tests with one more innings to go in this match. His runs have come at an average of 51.17, and he has hit 38 centuries and 66 half-centuries in his career thus far. With his 150 against India in Manchester, Root went past the likes of Rahul Dravid (13288), Jacques Kallis (13289) and Ricky Ponting (13378) in the list for most test runs.

Root only has Sachin Tendulkar ahead of him, who has 15921 runs in 200 tests with 51 centuries to his name.

Batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago: Kevin Pietersen

Pietersen, who played 104 tests, 136 ODIs, and 37 T20Is for England between 2005 and 2013, has been as outspoken with his views as he was flamboyant with the bat. The former right-handed batter, who scored 8,181 runs at an average of 47.28 with 23 centuries and 35 fifties in Test cricket, said batting was “twice as hard back then.”

“Don’t shout at me, but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then!” Pietersen stated on X.

Pietersen asked his readers to pick ten bowlers from the present who could be likened to a number of bowlers from earlier eras.

“Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali, Curtley, Courtney, and the list could go on and on… I’ve named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern-day bowlers that can compare to the names above?” he added.

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