Pietersen continues trolling MS Dhoni, CSK captain maintains silence
Kevin Pietersen and MS Dhoni’s banter in 2017 has gone down as one of the more memorable moments in Indian Premier League (IPL) folklore.
While Pietersen was one of the biggest stars of the IPL for a number of years, this moment came after he retired and moved to the commentary box and it seems that the former England captain has not really forgotten it nearly six years later.
The pair shared a light exchange during the 2017 IPL in which Dhoni was playing for the Rising Pune Supergiant. Pietersen told the mic’d up Manoj Tiwary that he was a better golfer compared to Dhoni. He then urged Tiwary to tell Dhoni that he said so, upon which Dhoni replied with a dig of his own. “You are still my first Test wicket,” he told Pietersen through the mic.
Pietersen had said back then that there was a referral and the decision was reversed and on Tuesday, he tweeted a video of the entire sequence of events. Dhoni did bowl to Pietersen during India’s 2011 tour (a series better remembered for Alastair Cook’s 294 and Stuart Broad’s first Test hat trick) and even had Billy Bowden adjudge the batter to be caught behind.
As the 42-year-old Pietersen has now shown, the decision did not stand, as he reviewed it straight away. It then became apparent Dhoni had not found the edge, the sound Bowden had heard was bat hitting pad, and the decision was overturned. Pietersen went on to score a double hundred as England won the game and series comfortably, while Dhoni finished his career without a Test wicket. The former England batter tweeted the video with the caption: “The evidence is clear! I was not Dhoni’s first wicket. Nice ball though MS!”
Later on Wednesday, Pietersen also tweeted another video, this time showing that he had in fact got Dhoni’s wicket in an earlier Test match. The match was in 2007 at the Oval and is remembered more for the fact that India spin great scored his only Test century. Dhoni had shared a 91-run stand with Kumble in the game, smashing 92 in 81 balls before falling to Pietersen off a catch by Alastair Cook. Dhoni’s only international wicket in a career that spanned over 500 games was that of West Indies batter Travis Dowlin in the 2009 Champions Trophy.
The banter is clearly light-hearted with Pietersen expressing his admiration for Dhoni a number of times over the years. He recently urged Dhoni to not retire at the end of this season. “I think everybody wants to keep going. With the Impact Player becoming more relevant now, I think he can. This is one tournament he needs to get up for. He can rest his body. If something is wrong with his knee, he can try and sort it out over the next couple of months. Why not? He is a fit guy, he is an athlete,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.