“I Disliked Kevin Pietersen” Says Graeme Swann

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann spilled the beans on his rift with fellow mate Kevin Pietersen. He also agreed to the fact that he and Kevin used to dislike each other during their playing days. 

Though Graeme and Kevin weren’t on good terms, they didn’t let the team suffer because of it. While being on the match field the duo supported each other as a team player should. They have together won some instrumental series like the 2010-11 Ashes and test series in India in 2012-13. 

Recently Graeme Swann shared his views on this whole controversy with Kevin Pietersen in a podcast called ‘In the Pink’. 

Swann said, “We are a team that got to number one in the world, and in a team, there are always going to be individuals. Ninety-nine percent of that side were all in it for the team,”

Kevin Pietersen remained a controversial figure throughout his career. He was dropped out of the team in 2012 as he was accused of sending insulting messages about then captain Andrew Strauss to his South African mates. 

Talking about it Graeme revealed, “There were times when it was all exterior things like the texting against Andrew Strauss.”

“When you get to the point when you’re having these team meetings and discussing what you’re going to do about these text messages but the player is saying ‘I didn’t send them’…”

“And then subsequently he says he did but only because they’re my mates, that certainly didn’t help things.” 

I wanted Kevin Pietersen in the team: Graeme Swann

Graeme Swann also explained the nature of his relationship with Kevin Pietersen. He added that he and KP were similar in a lot of ways. 

Notably, Kevin Pietersen was the captain of the England team for quite some time. However, his international career abruptly ended when his team was whitewashed by Australia in Ashes in 2013-14.

Swann acknowledged, “With Kevin Pietersen, we had a situation where he had been captain before and didn’t much like establishment and rules,” Swann said. “We were very similar in that way, and we got on me and KP professionally better than most people because we were very honest with but openly disliked each other. But wanted each other in the team.”

Swann also confessed that he wanted KP in the team as he is an excellent player. In 104 Tests that Kevin played, he scored  8181 runs at an average of 47.28, including 23 tons and 35 half-centuries. 

He admitted, “I wanted KP in the team because he was scoring a lot of runs and playing well. Simply he was one of the best batsmen in the world.”

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