England Test captain Joe Root has hailed the appointment of former teammate Kevin Pietersen as a “specialist mentor” of the white-ball squads. Speaking ahead of the third Test against Pakistan, Root revealed that Pietersen’s knowledge on the game will help England immensely as they look to regain the 50-over World Cup next year in South Africa.
“He is very knowledgeable, he has got a very good understanding of batting in particular and he’s got a huge amount of energy,” Pietersen said. “So, I think he’s going to be great for the group and I’m really looking forward to getting him involved.”
While Pietersen over the years has divided opinion in English cricket, Root believes that the 43-year-old’s personality will be beneficial for the group.”I think you want people to give their honest opinion,” he said. “Why would you get him involved if you didn’t want him to tell you what you think and to give his insight into the game.”
Citing his own example, Root revealed that Pietersen was very helpful as a teammate way back in 2012 when he made his Test debut.”I am probably the last player to have played with him still going,” Root recalled. “I really enjoyed him as a senior player coming into the team. He was someone that I would be shadowing all the time. That first Tour of India (2012/13) in particular, I tried to buddy up with him in the nets, watch how he practised, watch how he did things, ask him for advice and he was really open, really honest, very helpful in terms of how to get the best out of my game against spin.”
For now, Root’s immediate challenge is to inflict another loss on Pakistan to register a facile 3-0 win on his return as a full-time Test captain. Even though England have already sealed the series, Root admitted that Pakistan did pose a challenge.”Absolutely we have found (Pakistan) a challenge,” Root said. “I think that’s a bit disrespectful to both Pakistan as a team and to us as a team. I don’t think we’ve allowed them to get into games because of how well we’ve played as well and how quickly we’ve read the situations and the surfaces that we’ve had.
“I think it’s very easy to say one team is excellent and one team is poor. Normally it’s somewhere in the middle. Regardless of what’s happened over the last two games, this week it’s a completely different proposition for us. There’s a very talented group of players in that dressing room and you’ve got to be ready for it, so we’ll make sure that we are.”
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