If there is one question the Spin has been asked more often in the past fortnight than "do you honestly think that's funny?", then it's "what's wrong with KP?" The tempting answer is: not a lot. After all, he still averages 50 in one-day internationals, which is 11 more than Ian Bell, the next best in the current England squad, and the ICC rankings still place him second only to Ricky Ponting. But the fact remains that he has now gone eight one-day innings without making more than 33 not out, and that average of 50 is the lowest it has been in his 53-match career. As ever, the stats leave room for interpretation.
But in the eyes of the British public, Pietersen is not about stats. He is about perception. "Funny how England seem to do better when KP fails," says a friend, who in actual fact does not find this funny at all. There is a point lurking somewhere amid the prejudice (Pietersen, like other adopted cricketing immigrants before him, tends to be judged by harsher standards than his English-born colleagues).
To get all statty again: Pietersen has top-scored in 18 of his 53 one-day innings. That's an astonishing ratio of one in three, and even includes knocks made necessarily brief by the state of the game. Yet of those 18 games, England have won only four, lost 13, and tied one. And of the four wins, one came in a forgotten game at Harare, and two against West Indies when England's interest in a competition was already over (the Champions Trophy in 2006 and the World Cup in 2007). Only the unbeaten 91 not out against Australia at Bristol in 2005 counts as really significant.
This ratio of four out of 18 (22%) compares poorly with England's win ratio of nearly 43% in games in which Pietersen has played. Broadly speaking, he is scoring runs in losing causes and not helping out in victories. Ergo, say the KP-bashers, he is not a team player - and the current series against India merely proves it.
The Spin has rarely heard such speculation dressed up as fact. Here's an equally persuasive interpretation: Pietersen's outstanding record in defeats actually reflects poorly on his team-mates rather than on him. Either they stand back and rely on him, or they fall short in the same demanding conditions in which Pietersen manages to flourish. And in any case, why has only one of his 10 Test hundreds been in an England defeat (Adelaide, as if you needed reminding)?
It's true that there have been moments to add fuel to the KP-bashers' pyre. Was he not busy celebrating his Lord's Test hundred against India when he should have been coming back for the easiest of seconds? And why is the highest of his five one-day centuries no more than 116? But it is always possible to discern selfishness if you look hard enough. It is even easier to spot greatness.
So what about this series? The Observer's Vic Marks made the point on Sunday that India have tried to get under his skin before he has played himself in (watch for the reception he gets from Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik when he walks out to bat tomorrow). They realise their best chance is to tempt him into premature aggression. And the hook he aimed at Ajit Agarkar at Old Trafford last week fitted the theory. But he also received a jaffa on Sunday from Zaheer Khan before he had scored - one of the hazards of batting - and has to contend with a general state of high-alert from the opposition whenever he arrives in the middle.
But the Spin isn't concerned. The last time Pietersen went eight one-day innings without a half-century, he responded with knocks of 90 not out, 82 and 60. If he can conjure up a match-winner either tomorrow or on Saturday, we will be wondering what all the fuss was about.
The above is an extract from Lawrence Booth's free weekly email, The Spin
