Kevin Pietersen might have just shattered the theory of a captain being only as good as his team. The faces in the England side are the same but the results under Pietersen have been completely different. Beating South Africa 4-0 is no mean feat and the settler's revenge on his former compatriots gets sweeter with each passing tour.
England have been a different side since Pietersen took over the reins. With aggression and self-belief being the key, they played only to win. Rarely has an English team been this authoritative, dominating a waning South African side. And if anybody could have turned England around, it had to be their best batsman. As a commentator once said on air: "If anybody can, it’s KP."
Although it goes without saying that it is too early too judge Pietersen as a captain, it is pretty evident that England's only choice for captain after Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood stepped down turned out to be their best one.
The new England captain, like all great leaders, is a man of conviction, his shrewd brain and big heart working in tandem. His decision of picking Steve Harmison did wonders to the confidence of the beleaguered pacer. Andrew Flintoff's elevation in the batting order earned him the man of the series award for performances, which reminded world cricket that injuries might have taken their toll but the phenomenon called Freddie is still a force to reckon with.
Pietersen did to England what MS Dhoni did to India: Transformed a talented but tentative bunch of cricketers into a team. A team, which believes that it can surpass all expectations and thwart the strongest of resistance for glory. Both Pietersen and his Indian counterpart, who will square up against each other in a few months time in what promises to be a battle of the captains, got their jobs unexpectedly but showed they were more than ready with unmatched success on their first assignments.
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Dhoni has been ‘Captain Cool’ for India, taking India to new heights in his first year as skipper. The 27-year old has been in the teeth of storms but has fought them with courage. Like his batting, which defies all coaching books, his leadership too has been unconventional where he backs only his instincts. How else would you explain him handing the ball to Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over in the final of the Twenty20 World Championship?
