'Do Me A F*****g Favour': Kevin Pietersen Lashes Out At UK Journalist For Reasons Behind England Players Not Training Enough After 3-0 ODI Series Loss To India

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen lashed out at a leading English journalist over him and Ravi Shastri making false claims about England not training enough amid their dismal limited-overs tour of India. With Pietersen revealing how the reporter claimed injuries and quick turnaround between games behind their reason for not training enough, he has requested the journalist to stop writing about the sport from hereon.

With England losing the T20I series 4-1 and the 50-over leg 3-0, former cricketers have come down hard at them. As reported by Sky Sports, Pietersen observed that most of the players spent majority of their time playing golf instead of practising at the nets. Fellow commentator Shastri opined that England will cease to improve if they fail to put in the hard yards.

Taking to X, the 104-Test veteran wrote that injuries shouldn't stop any player from trying to better their approach against their weaknesses and that journalists should stop trying to fool fans with such claims. He stated:

"Just got sent an article where a leading UK journo has said that Shastri & I got it wrong last night when discussing England not training. Reason - injuries and quick turnaround between games…! Do me a f*****g favour! Stop writing about cricket if you’re going to write such rubbish. Injuries are part of sport and this schedule is like every bilateral series almost ever played. Injuries are NOT stopping batters from batting against net bowlers and learning the art of playing spin."

"And that’s where they should have been to IMPROVE! Trust me on this one as it saved my career against spin! It seems the journos are in cahoots with what we’re trying to be brainwashed into believing! You won’t fool the fan with such!"

"Don't mistake that for a lazy environment" - Jos Buttler hits back

At the post-game presser, Jos Buttler responded to claims of England players playing golf and not spending enough time practising by stating that questioning their efforts is unacceptable. Buttler said, as quoted by BBC:

"[I am] not sure that is quite true. We try to create a really good environment but don't mistake that for a lazy environment or lack of effort. The guys are desperate to perform and improve. There have been a couple of times we have not trained but we have done plenty of training throughout the tour."

Published on: Thursday, February 13, 2025, 11:04 AM IST