On Thursday (Jan 16), Kevin Pietersen sent his fans into an emotional outburst with a tongue-in-cheek post on social media platform X, making himself available for the role of the Indian team’s batting coach.

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This comes amid stories doing rounds that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking for a batting coach after its review meeting of the Australia series. Pietersen, the former England captain, replied to one such post, saying: “Available!”

Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Pietersen has played 104 Tests for England, scoring 8,181 runs, including 23 hundreds. In ODIs, the right-handed batsman has 4,440 runs to his name in 136 matches at an average of 40.73. He has nine centuries with a best score of 130.

Pietersen is also the winner of 2010 ICC T20 World Cup, where he was adjudged ‘player of the tournament’ with a total of 248 runs in six matches with two fifties. Besides this, he is the third-highest run scorer of all time for England with 13,779 runs in 275 matches, scoring 32 centuries and 67 fifties.

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Why the Indian team needs a batting coach?

The current Indian team doesn’t have a designated batting coach. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate are part of head coach Gautam Gambhir’s support staff as assistant coaches, and their role was called into question after India’s back-to-back series defeats against New Zealand and Australia.

Indian batting has struggled during the series against New Zealand and Australia. Rohit Sharma was out of the playing eleven for the fifth Test at Sydney, and there is a question mark on his future in red-ball cricket. Virat Kohli must also prove himself if he wants to hold his position in the team.

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If the BCCI does go ahead with Pietersen, it would be a high-profile appointment, given that India’s next Test assignment is a five-match series against England.