Pietersen refuses to visit Pakistan if Quetta Gladiators reach eliminators

SHARJAH: Kevin Pietersen said ‘no’ when asked whether he will visit Pakistan for the eliminators of Pakistan Super League (PSL) third edition.

Speaking to a post-match media talk, Pietersen was asked if he will go to Pakistan in case his team Quetta Gladiators qualified for the final rounds. He didn’t respond to the question at length, and briefly signalled his refusal.

KP says no to going to Pakistan for the PSL if Quetta Gladiators qualify #PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/GsfuelJSOe

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) February 28, 2018

On the other hand, a number of overseas players from all franchises have agreed to participate in the Pakistan leg of PSL 2018. Liam Dawson, JP Duminy, Darren Sammy, Shane Watson, Andre Fletcher, Carlos Brathwaite, Imran Tahir, Luke Ronchi, Colin Ingram, Colin Munro, Darren Bravo, Sam Billings, Tamim Iqbal, David Wiese and others have given their green signal to visit Pakistan to play the Lahore eliminators and Karachi final.

He praised Gladiators’ skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, saying, “Pakistan is lucky to have Sarfaraz as captain. All the players like him and he’s got a very good cricket brain.”

The South Africa-born English batsman hinted that the green shirts might have a better chance at winning the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales with Sarfraz as their captain. “The World Cup is only 12 months away and I think it would be a very clever decision for the PCB to say to him you are leading our team to the World Cup,” he stated.

“We are lead well by Sarfaraz … we win together and when we win, we have some fun and if we lose we build ourselves back together,” he added.

Sarfraz returned the compliment by revealing that Pietersen helps him a lot in the field to make decisions.

On Wednesday, Pietersen’s 48 off 34 balls helped his side win against Islamabad United.

The 37-year-old, who is set to retire from cricket after PSL, had also not featured in the Lahore final of PSL 2.