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‘There were months and months of practise’: How Kevin Pietersen mastered his trademark switch hits
Kevin Pietersen discussed in length about the switch hit and how he practiced it for several months before attempting it during an international fixture.
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen is renowned for his attacking batting and mostly for his trademark shot - the switch hit. Pietersen's was among the first cricketers to start the trend of changing the stance from right to left or vice versa and over the years we've seen many others follow the same. Such was the admiration for the shot that Pepsi dedicated a special ad for it during the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Pietersen, who is part of the Sky Sports commentary panel for the India-England Test, discussed in length about the switch hit and how he practiced it for several months before attempting it during an international fixture.
In a video shared by Sky Sports on social media, the former England batter shared his views on how to deal spinners in England, featuring Ravi Shastri and Nasser Hussain.
After obliging to Hussain's request of playing three successive switch hits, Pietersen said: “There were months and months I practised this. I was 16 or 17 and a lot of practice went into this. I used to do one-hand hit drills.”
The world witnessed the first switch hit by Pietersen during a Test against Sri Lanka in 2006. He had then attempted the shot against spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan. It gained more popularity after he did it against ex-New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris in an ODI in 2008.
Pietersen, who has represented England in over 100 matches in both Test and ODIs, made his debut against Zimbabwe in a 50-over contest in 2004. A year later he was handed his maiden cap in Tests, making his debut against Ashes rivals Australia at Lord's. His final international appearance was against Australia in 2014 in the red-ball format.
Pietersen has over 8000 and 4000 runs in Tests and ODIs respectively.
