Stumps & Bumps: The bad boy gamble... is KP doing a CM Punk?

Kevin Pietersen will join the England Men's limited overs teams as a specialist mentor in the build-up to next year's Cricket World Cup in Africa, ending a twelve-year exile after his international career was cut short after a disasterous Ashes tour in Australia.

Pietersen was the central figure in the huge fall-out that followed the 5-0 thrashing by Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes, which led to coach Andy Flower losing his job, and fractured his relationship with the then England captain Alistair Cook and several team mates. He never played for England again finishing his career as a gun-for-hire on the Twenty20 franchise circuit.

The former Ashes and T20 World Cup winner played 136 ODIs and 37 T20 matches for England, scoring more than 5,500 runs, adding another 8,181 runs across his 104 Test match appearances and SEN Cricket's Bharat Sundaresan believes the gamble to bring Pietersen back into the fold could pay off for England - much like CM Punk returning to the WWE after a decade away.

"As supremely talented as both of them are they could not help but get under a lot of their teammates skin, or in CM Punk's case, his colleagues in the dressing room and WWE at that point. It almost felt like it was beyond their control, wasn't it? You were always amazed by their talent, but every time they would rub people the wrong way" said Sundaresan on Stumps & Bumps this week.

CM Punk left the WWE in 2014 on bad terms, walking out on the company after the Royal Rumble before signing with UFC later that year. He fought twice, but ultimately had no success in mixed martial arts before he eventually returned to the WWE in 2023.

His return to the WWE was initially met with cynicism with many questioning how long this relationship would be on good terms – but since his return he’s had memorable feuds with Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, as well as winning the World title three times as well as main eventing WrestleMania twice.

"We all wondered how long it was going to be before it blew up between Punk and the office, but it's proved fruitful for all parties. Hopefully it's the same for KP but already we're seeing former England players like Michael Vaughn and Mark Ramprakash having their doubts about him and he's barely put on an England coaching uniform yet. Pietersen - like CM Punk, is not shy of speaking his mind or clashing with authority so this should be very interesting to see how it plays out"

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