Kevin Pietersen criticism of modern bowlers misses the mark; Sunil Gavaskar on point

Kevin Pietersen criticism of modern bowlers misses the mark; Sunil Gavaskar on point (BCCI Photos)

It was Kevin Pietersen, South African-born England batting legend of yesteryear, who lit the fuse when Joe Root went past Ricky Ponting in the all-time run-scorers’ list for Test cricket. “Don’t shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago!” Pietersen wrote on X. “Probably twice as hard back then!

“Waqar [Younis], Shoaib [Akhtar], [Wasim] Akram, [Saqlain] Mushtaq, [Anil] Kumble, [Javagal] Srinath, Harbhajan [Singh], [Allan] Donald, [Shaun] Pollock, [Lance] Klusener, [Darren] Gough, [Glenn] McGrath, [Brett] Lee, [Shane] Warne, [Jason] Gillespie, [Shane] Bond, [Daniel] Vettori, [Chris] Cairns, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Murali[tharan], Curtley [Ambrose], Courtney [Walsh] and the list could go on and on... I’ve named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern day bowlers that can compare to the names above?”

Don’t shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20/25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then!

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Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali,…

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 26, 2025

His views found support in some quarters, but one to gently dismiss them was Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to 10,000 Test runs. “Some of these players, by the time they retire, will also be considered greats,” said Gavaskar speaking on a show for the host broadcaster.

Sunny G had an interesting take on Kevin Pietersen’s 'generation' tweet

What are your thoughts about it? #SonySportsNetwork #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/94H6YwxLe5

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 2, 2025

He also laughed off the things-were-better-in-our-day mindset, and with good reason. The names Pietersen mentioned are undoubtedly legends of the game, but the notion that bowlers today are some sort of cannon fodder isn’t borne out by facts.

He only needs to look into his own backyards. In the last decade alone, the recently retired Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson took nearly 600 wickets between them for England. Overall, they aggregated 1308 wickets. For South Africa, the current World Test Champions, Kagiso Rabada has taken 336 wickets at a strike-rate (38.9) that is unmatched in the game’s history.

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Coming to India, the five best strike-rates (balls needed to take a wicket) among those with a minimum of 100 scalps all belong to bowlers who played the major part of their careers in the past decade. Jasprit Bumrah (42.6), Mohammed Shami (50.2), R Ashwin (50.7), Mohammed Siraj (52.6) and Umesh Yadav (52.8) all have better numbers than the Indian legends Pietersen mentioned.

If the argument is that those numbers are a result of more bowler-friendly pitches, then Pietersen’s argument is further weakened. Logically, scoring runs should be even more tough in that case.

Even Australia, against whom Pietersen made his name in the 2005 Ashes, have been served by some legends in recent times. Between them, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon have taken over 1250 wickets in the past decade, with Starc and Cummins having strike-rates hovering around 46 – among the best in cricket history.

Whichever way you look at it, Pietersen’s assertion doesn’t add up. Test batting is as much of a challenge as it ever was, and there’s absolutely no reason to tarnish the feats of the likes of Root and Shubman Gill – who scored 754 runs in the ongoing series.