Kevin Pietersen recalls an e-mail from Rahul Dravid that resurrected his techniques

The tenth edition of the 8-teams league has so far witnessed some brilliant knocks on the field, and off the field as well. Rahul Dravid has become one of the most widely loved mentors by young cricketers, with most youngsters crediting their success to the former India captain.

However, this time around, it is not an Indian youngster but a former player who has credited ‘The Wall’ for helping him overcome a shortfall.

In a video on the IPL website, Kevin Pietersen spoke about how IPL helps cricketers gain knowledge from each other. Spending six months together as a unit helps exchange thoughts and ideas.

“Indian Premier League has helped different players come together because you are all teammates. Basically, when the players are together for six-seven weeks possibly eight weeks if you make that finals you are together, you are a unit. I think that’s really good because you can learn from other people.”

He further thanked IPL for associating him closely with a genius like Rahul Dravid.

“Speaking from personal experiences Rahul Dravid and how much he helped me in my career. I owe it to the Indian Premier League that I build an ability to tap in with a genius like that which helped me in my career overcome a shortfall. And then just go from strength to strength and that is thanks to the IPL”

Pietersen also recollected how in his autobiography he printed an email sent to him by Dravid, and the generosity with which the Bangalorean wrote it. The e-mail, he said, helped him improve his batting technique and with that also helped England cricket overall.

“In my autobiography, I printed that e-mail from Rahul Dravid and the kindness, generosity and the time he took to write the e-mail and as simple as he made it sound was so beneficial for me. It was beneficial for English cricket too because I managed to sort out a little bit of a deficiency in my technique”

When asked who plays the switch hit and flamingo shot the better, his quick reply was, “NO ONE”