For two major cricketing sides, there is a big-hitting batsman in the middle-order who supports the innings and their fans adore. For India, it is wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni and for England, it is South African Kevin Pietersen.
Why are these two loved so much by their fans? It is clear to me they have obvious flaws.
Dhoni is nothing more than an aggressive clubber with grace and subtlety of an elephant. He has nothing on the touch and class of his national elders Tendulkar and Ganguly and instead relies on using aggression and raw power to launch balls over the rope.
He failed to make the big impression in the IPL to justify his huge pricetag and has been outshone in the Kitply Cup.
He is just a celebrity with power and a famous haircut, not a fine cricketer that we are used to seeing of the India national side.
As for Pietersen, I am surprised he could fit his head through the door when he went through customs arriving at England. A South African-born off-spinner, he had a tantrum at not being given what he wants when he wants and left for a country where he knew he'd get into the team with less effort.
He is arrogance personified; just ask Scott Styris. KP showed him the ultimate insult by switching hands to score runs when England were in a safe position and could have won without resorting to mockery and over-confidence.
Again, he's a celebrity with a famous haircut, the lovely 'skunk head' he displayed in the 2005 Ashes. No one seems to mention that he had a torrid time before this NZ series.
Both of these batsmen are horrendously overrated by their fans and don't deserve the praise they get. They are more interested in fame than cricket and shouldn't be given the opportunity to inflate their already huge egos.
Give me Saurav Ganguly or Ian Bell any day: two players with class and real cricketing shots who aren't interested in what the newspapers say.
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