KP: The Autobiography

by Kevin Pietersen MBE

The fascinating life story of professional cricketer Kevin Pietersen, MBE, from his childhood in South Africa to his recent experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket.

Kevin was dropped from the England squad in February of this year, seemingly calling time on an international career that began nearly ten years earlier. The decision puzzled many observers - although the England team had failed miserably in the Ashes tour of 2013-14, Kevin was the tourists' leading run scorer across the series, and he remains the country's highest run scorer of all time across all formats of the game.

This autumn Kevin will reveal all in his autobiography, telling the stories behind the many other highs and lows of his incredible career. Giving readers the full story of his life, from his childhood in South Africa to his recent experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket, this will be an autobiography that entertains and fascinates readers in equal measure.

Genres: Biography, Sports, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Memoir

329 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2014

Reviews

[Aakanksha Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a huge cricket fan, this book was in my tbr for so long. Now I read it and thinking why I didn't pick it sooner? Kevin Pietersen is one of the best cricket players. He was born and brought up in South Africa and moved to England when he was nineteen years old. If he didn't make that choice, probably he will never become what he is today.

This book gives a little insight into his personal life because it is full of his professional experiences within the English dressing room and with the professionals of other countries. He talks openly about his intense relationship with coach Andy Flower. His mates made a Twitter account to make fun of him, or to insult him. Whatever he says got twisted by journalists, even when he took the matter to ECB (English Cricket Board), they ignored him and leaked the details to media.

The pressure is increasing day by day not only on Kevin, but on other players as well, but no one has guts to speak about it. People didn't even want to acknowledge it. KP also shares about his time playing IPL in India. For so long, everyone holds grudge against him for this.

Kevin cleared that he was in IPL for the money because the career of a player is short, and if you got injured, and never got a chance to play, then you need to be prepared financially. But this is not the only reason, for him, IPL was like a teaching school, where he met world-class players and learns from them. But the English team, management, and journalist bad-mouthed his every move. They thought that he doesn't care about his teammates at all.

This book is loaded with the details of crushing schedules, intense disciplines, getting twisted every word by media, betrayal by his mates, selfish coach and management, harmful banter. KP overcame from each mortification, and tried to improve relations because he wanted to play for England, he wanted to win for England. This book gives an insight into messy English dressing room conversations, and how it influences the capacity to play.

The book is an eye-opener, from outside it all seems normal, but when you brood over details, you realize how harsh people were with him. At some points, I felt like the novel is saddled with complaints, but on the other hand, I also sensed that he's just attempting to point out what he underwent in all those years. So, if you are into cricket, pick this book. It is recommendable.

Read more here - https://www.bookscharming.com/

Étant un grand fan de cricket, ce livre a été dans mon tbr pendant si longtemps. Maintenant je l'ai lu et je me suis demandé pourquoi je ne l'avais pas choisi plus tôt? Kevin Pietersen est l'un des meilleurs joueurs de cricket. Il est né et a grandi en Afrique du Sud et a déménagé en Angleterre à l'âge de dix-neuf ans. S'il n'a pas fait ce choix, il ne deviendra probablement jamais ce qu'il est aujourd'hui.

Ce livre donne un petit aperçu de sa vie personnelle car il est plein de ses expériences professionnelles au sein du dressing anglais et avec les professionnels d'autres pays. Il parle ouvertement de sa relation intense avec l'entraîneur Andy Flower. Ses amis ont créé un compte Twitter pour se moquer de lui ou pour l'insulter. Tout ce qu'il dit a été déformé par les journalistes, même lorsqu'il a porté l'affaire devant la BCE (English Cricket Board), ils l'ont ignoré et ont divulgué les détails aux médias.

La pression augmente de jour en jour non seulement sur Kevin, mais aussi sur les autres joueurs, mais personne n'a le courage d'en parler. Les gens ne voulaient même pas le reconnaître. KP partage également son expérience de jeu IPL en Inde. Pendant si longtemps, tout le monde lui en veut.

Kevin a confirmé qu'il était en IPL pour l'argent parce que la carrière d'un joueur est courte, et si vous vous êtes blessé et n'avez jamais eu la chance de jouer, alors vous devez être prêt financièrement. Mais ce n'est pas la seule raison, pour lui, IPL était comme une école d'enseignement, où il rencontrait des joueurs de classe mondiale et apprenait d'eux. Mais l'équipe anglaise, la direction et le journaliste ont fait la moindre de ses lèvres. Ils pensaient qu'il ne se souciait pas du tout de ses coéquipiers.

Ce livre est chargé avec les détails des horaires écrasants, des disciplines intenses, se tordant chaque mot par les médias, la trahison de ses camarades, l'entraîneur égoïste et la gestion, les plaisanteries nuisibles. KP a surmonté chaque mortification et a essayé d'améliorer les relations parce qu'il voulait jouer pour l'Angleterre, il voulait gagner pour l'Angleterre. Ce livre donne un aperçu des conversations désordonnées dans les vestiaires anglais et comment il influence la capacité de jouer.

Le livre est une révélation, de l'extérieur, tout semble normal, mais quand vous méditez sur les détails, vous réalisez à quel point les gens étaient durs avec lui. À certains moments, j'ai eu l'impression que le roman était aux prises avec des plaintes, mais d'un autre côté, j'ai également senti qu'il essayait simplement de souligner ce qu'il avait subi pendant toutes ces années. Donc, si vous aimez le cricket, choisissez ce livre. C'est recommandable.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot of noise surrounding this book, with KP appearing on TV and others scurrying around supporting or challenging the views he espouses herein. There's no doubt he holds back no punches here, it's very, very forthright. In this regard it's an interesting read and taking in the full text as opposed to the soundbites I'd picked up does present a more balanced overall picture.

- He's very hard on Andy Flower, the ex-England coach. In fact a good deal of the book is a prolonged rant about his shortcomings as a coach. a leader and as a person. He calls him the Mood Hoover, due to his ability to suck any positive spirit from a group or a room.
- He's nearly as hard on Matt Prior, another South African born cricketer who played wicket keeper for England. It's not quite the character assassination he does on Flower, but it's close.
- He's extremely negative about the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in terms of the way he was treated. There is much talk of information leaks and spin. Cricket politics is a significant theme.
- Other England cricketers come in for some rough treatment too, particularly Graham Swann, Chris Broad and to a lesser extent, Alistair Cook and Andrew Strauss.
- So, there's an awful lot of negativity in the book. It's a big exercise in defending himself against what he perceives to be an organised stream of criticism and media manupulation which has been exercised by all of the above.
- KP puts forward the view that his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) generated jealousy and resentment on the part of his England team mates who didn't have the ability or the guts to take part themselves. He talks about how the ECB set out to stop the involvement of England players in the IPL and how this was driven by their money generating TV contract with Sky.
- There's lots more here, about injuries that impacted him (and the lack of support he received whenever this happened), about the KP Genius Twitter account which made fun of him and appears to have had the involvement of some of his team mates, and so on.

So overall, KP does come across as a bit of a moaner. You feel he has a list of excuses for most of his own mistakes but is very hard on others for theirs. I'm not sure it changed any preconceptions I had about him - I always thought him a talented but arrogant guy - but he does tell a riveting story of events that still feel fresh and who's reverberations shook the cricket world.

[Amit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The autobiography of Kevin Pietersen provides joy and sorrow in equal measure. Joy in the sense of knowing some interesting facts about his life and sorrow in the sense that how he was dropped and his career ended. The book fascinates the readers and provides an enormous amount of thrilling elements.
Undoubtedly, Kevin is one of the stylish players of all time. Who steals the spotlight on the ground and outside of the ground as well. His book reveals some interesting facts about his life that drastically ended his career. Despite being a leading run scorer from visitors side in the Ashes tour of 2013-14 he was dropped from the next series.
A nice book for a cricket fan to know this man from his side.

[Alcatraz Dey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to know the behind the scenes life of a cricketer. but i would have liked to have known more about KP the cricketer than the whole testimonial about the controversial situation in which he was chucked out of the England team. however, his POV story is good to know, as the media reports have been totally different like he pointed out several times in the book.

In contrary, i would also like to know what Andy flower thought of KP. it would also be an interesting read, i assume.

[Sunil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember who says it but there is a line in the movie ‘Rush’ that describes James Hunt as the guy who can lose a race 9 out of 10 times but that one time when all odds are against winning, if you want someone racing to push for a win, it has to be him. That line for me describes KP in many ways.

I felt the manner of his sacking was unprofessional and abominable. So I was curious to learn of any details of his ousting. Out of confidentiality contract with the ECB this month, KP uses this book (ghost written by David Walsh who uncovered doping by Lance Armstrong ) to essentially narrate his side of the story. In this sense, it’s not much of an autobiography of his life, but of his sacking but then that’s the word doing rounds?

The book at times is funny but mostly is a lengthy grievance, many a times rightfully against Andy Flower, the ECB and a few of his now well-known select teammates all of who it appears implicitly colluded against him.

The book has no literary merit, but it does expose some of the inside sentiment of the English dressing room. The problems between the parties involved is not just of blanket clichés of ‘not getting along’ or ‘personality clashes’ but there seems to be clear undercurrent of alienation and division within the team, that grows to become distinct and leads to the inevitable.

Some of the points raised by KP are reasonable, some remain incomplete and one-sided. The book like all versions of conflicts will remain one-sided. One thing that is very clear is the awful unprofessionalism and lack of man management skills of the ECB. Shame that a country that is re-knowned in the man-management of mavericks (e.g Allenby with TE Lawrence) and get the best out of them cut a sorry helpless figure overall. Rest is politics of puny humans.

[Sush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Adi G for recommending this book!

KP's murky exit from English cricket left us all curious and he describes his exit in great detail in his autobiography. His constant, relentless attacks on Andy Flower, Strauss and Prior and the ECB (which I admit sounds AWFUL even accounting for some embellishment on KP's part) become tedious very quickly and do significant damage to the credibility of his telling of the story. What is largely a book-length attack on a faction of the English team, is interspersed with lively, engaging accounts of his youth in South Africa, his experiences with the IPL, the few friends he's managed to make within English cricket and his lovely-sounding wife.

A lot of the book is whining, but bursts of the personality we've come to know and love from watching him play help make the book a worthwhile read. I was reminded of Shoaib Akhtar's autobiography while reading it ; both colourful, larger-than-life personalities with more than a fair share of controversy and a very similar manner of describing their indiscretions as things that HAPPEN to them and somehow, for some inexplicable reason, upset the board and the team.

[Jamie Waite · Rating 3 out of 5]

My opinion of KP before reading wasn’t the best and it doesn’t change after.

The book is a massive pity party. Moaning about what everyone thought of him. The IPL Band wagon and how everyone ‘hated’ him for it. Probably hated him cause he wouldn’t stop talking about it. Moan moan moan moan

Matt Prior was probably a massive wanker like he showed in the book. But what’s the point in crying about it. It came across that KP couldn’t work with anyone other than himself. Easily 5 or 6 chapters about how much he hated him. Wouldn’t be surprised if he had Matt Priors face on a dartboard.

Albeit he was a quality cricketer and one of England’s best.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

One long moaning session from start to finish

[shourabh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read of the insights of cricket politics. And how KP became a victim and a scapegoat to cover up the Ashes Whitewash. The book is very narrative and KP has poured his heart into it.

[Liam Binfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

This story has been told, retold and then told some more. All by different people with different perspectives but this is the first time I’ve read the whole account as told by the man himself.

I’m sure there’s bits missed out or KPwashed but on the whole Kev gives a great account of the dressing room problems (I always knew Matt prior was a wrongun) and the structural politics of the ECB. He’s been scapegoated and used despite all he achieved for England, in many instances almost single-handedly.

Great to read what was going on behind the scenes or in the dressing room during famous moments in games I once watched live and have been replayed over and over.

Must read for any cricket fan. Some juicy bits in there too but no spoilers.

Giles Clarke is a rat.


If this book was a cricketer I would say it’d probably be Kevin Pietersen.

[Jack Fitzharris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to find out about the politics behind the cricket

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads # Cricket

When I picked up this book in 2015, it felt less like sitting down with a book and more like strapping myself into a rollercoaster powered by dynamite. The cover itself promised no calm recollection of past glories, no sepia-toned stroll down memory lane, but something raw, jagged, designed to provoke. This was not Bradman in the hands of Perry, nor the sober global sprawl of Bowen, nor even the affectionate wit of Gavaskar’s Sunny Days.

This was modern cricket in the IPL age: personal brand, controversy, tell-all energy, and a refusal to play by the rules. Reading it, I realised quickly that KP: The Autobiography is less about cricket the game and more about cricket as theatre, politics, and personality clash. It is Kevin Pietersen performing Kevin Pietersen — but the performance is so loud, so unapologetic, that it becomes essential reading in the wider canon of cricket books.

The book’s opening pages throw you straight into the maelstrom: Pietersen recounts his exile from the England team, his grievances with the ECB, the toxic atmosphere in the dressing room. Gone is the polite ghostwriter prose of many sports autobiographies. Instead, KP’s voice is spiky, impatient, insistent. He wants you to feel his hurt, his anger, his sense of betrayal. He wants you to see him as both victim and hero — victim of a bullying culture, hero of the runs he made in spite of it. And he is unapologetically willing to name names, to point fingers.

Where Sachin Tendulkar’s Playing It My Way (2014) reads like an official press release stretched into a book, KP’s memoir feels like a courtroom testimony. It has the adrenaline of someone who has been silenced too long and is in conclusion, unleashed.

That difference is telling. Cricket autobiographies, for much of their history, have leaned toward the guarded, the diplomatic, the “team-first” line. Gavaskar’s Sunny Days (1976) is charming, witty, and occasionally candid, but never vicious. Steve Waugh’s Out of My Comfort Zone (2005) is exhaustive but often dry, carefully constructed to maintain his hard-nosed image. Sachin’s Playing It My Way became notorious for revealing almost nothing of his inner life or his opinions of others. KP explodes that tradition. He refuses diplomacy. If there is a “gentleman’s code” in cricket writing, Pietersen tears it up and sets it on fire. In that sense, his book is as disruptive in literature as his reverse-sweeps and switch-hits were on the field.

Yet one must ask: is this disruption revelation or self-justification? Much of KP: The Autobiography is devoted to settling scores. He accuses teammates of bullying younger players, of creating a toxic “clique” in the dressing room. He singles out Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, and others as ringleaders in this culture. He portrays Alastair Cook as a weak leader, the ECB as hypocritical, the media as complicit. Some of it reads like truth-telling; some of it like vendetta. The difficulty, of course, is that autobiography is always partial. Pietersen is not an impartial witness — he is the protagonist of his own melodrama. To read him uncritically is dangerous; to dismiss him outright is equally simplistic. The book demands the reader hold two thoughts at once: Pietersen may be exaggerating, and yet Pietersen may also be right.

In between the accusations and defences, there are passages of cricketing insight that remind you why Pietersen mattered. His descriptions of batting in India, of facing Muttiah Muralitharan or Dale Steyn, of the mental balance required to dominate in hostile conditions — these are superb. Unlike some players who gloss over their craft, KP takes you inside the head of an attacking batsman. He writes of the joy of innovation, the thrill of risk, the necessity of arrogance when walking out to bat. In these moments, the book soars. You hear the voice of a cricketer who was, at his peak, one of the most exhilarating in the modern game.

You are reminded that behind the headlines, there was genuine genius: the 158 at the Oval in 2005, the 186 in Mumbai in 2012, the countless moments when he bent games to his will.

Still, what makes the book notorious is not its cricket but its candour. Or, perhaps more accurately, its fury. Compare it to David Frith’s writings. Frith is an elegist; he lingers on loss, tragedy, the melancholy of cricketing lives cut short. Pietersen has no such time for melancholy. His is a book of confrontation. Where Frith listens for silences, KP fills every silence with recrimination. It is less elegy, more tabloid exposé. And yet, like Frith’s books, it reflects an important truth: cricket is not only joy and artistry, it is also pain, bitterness, and conflict.

Placed beside CLR James’s Beyond a Boundary, the contrast is almost comical. James’s book is philosophy, literature, political theory — cricket as metaphor for colonialism and freedom. Pietersen’s is not interested in history or philosophy. It is, at heart, a cry of the individual against the collective. James wrote, “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” Pietersen, one suspects, would answer: “They know quite enough, provided it is my cricket.” Where James universalises, KP personalises. Where James lifts the game to a grand stage, KP drags it into the dressing-room corridor. And yet, both books in their own way testify to cricket’s range: it can sustain the weight of Marxist analysis, and it can just as easily carry the vitriol of a disgruntled superstar.

The gossip element cannot be denied. Much of the book reads like a tabloid story stretched to 400 pages. There are anecdotes of dressing-room pranks gone wrong, of WhatsApp groups, of texts sent to South African opponents, of cliques and grudges. For readers used to the decorum of cricket writing, this was shocking. For readers raised on tabloid culture, it was delicious. It was as if cricket had finally joined football and basketball in producing autobiographies that are as much scandal as sport. One could argue that this is not “serious” literature. But one could also argue that this is necessary literature. For too long, cricket memoirs were PR exercises. KP’s book broke that mould. It said: here is the dirty laundry. Judge me if you will, but here it is.

The cultural timing matters. In 2015, English cricket was still processing its white-ball failures, its Ashes oscillations, its administrative muddles. Pietersen, with his IPL riches and outspoken personality, embodied the clash between old cricketing traditions and the new globalised, market-driven era.

His autobiography, then, is not just about him. It is about cricket’s transformation. He is both symptom and symbol: the foreign-born player who became England’s best batsman, the IPL star who clashed with ECB conservatism, the individualist in a game still tied to team-first rhetoric. His book documents that cultural shift, even if unintentionally.

Against Perry’s The Don, the contrast could not be sharper. Perry writes Bradman as untouchable myth, a flawless saviour of a nation. Pietersen writes himself as a flawed genius, misunderstood, controversial, sometimes obnoxious, but never dull. Where Perry builds myth, KP dismantles it — at least when it comes to his teammates and administrators. And yet, he simultaneously builds his own myth: the lonely genius persecuted for his brilliance. One can almost imagine Bradman shuddering at such public airing of grievances. But then, Bradman’s era did not have Twitter, Instagram, or the IPL.

Where does KP: The Autobiography sit in the library of cricket books? It is not literary like Cardus or James. It is not exhaustive history like Bowen or Guha. It is not elegiac like Frith. It is not deferential like Perry. It is, instead, pitilessly contemporary: sensational, confessional, tabloid, brand-driven. It is a book that belongs to the age of reality television and social media. To dismiss it as mere gossip is to ignore its cultural role. Cricket, after all, is no longer just a game of county ovals and gentlemanly memoirs. It is a global entertainment business. And KP, for better or worse, was one of its first true celebrities.

Reading it in 2015, I remember feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated. Exhausted because the bitterness was relentless. Exhilarated because this was something new in cricket writing: a player refusing to be sanitised. It made me think of sports autobiographies in other fields — Andre Agassi’s Open, with its startling honesty, or Paul Kimmage’s Rough Ride, which exposed cycling’s dark side. KP is not as artful as Agassi, nor as searing as Kimmage, but he is cut from the same cloth: the player who says what is not supposed to be said.

Of course, one must read critically. KP’s self-portrait is flattering: he is the victim of bullying, the player sacrificed for politics, and the misunderstood genius. There is little reflection on his own faults, his own role in conflicts.

Where Sachin hides too much, KP reveals too selectively. But that, too, is part of the autobiography game. What matters is not whether we believe him entirely, but that he opens a space of contestation. His book invites debate. It forces readers to think about team culture, about the ECB, about the balance between individual and collective. It is literature as provocation.

And perhaps that is why, for all its flaws, I value KP: The Autobiography. It may not be elegant. It may not be balanced. It may not even be fair. But it is alive. It crackles with energy. It refuses to play safe. In the staid world of cricket writing, that is no small thing. It captures not only Kevin Pietersen but the very spirit of twenty-first-century cricket: brash, commercial, controversial, global, and loud.

So, where would I shelve it in the great library of cricket books? Between Agassi’s Open and Flintoff’s Being Freddie perhaps, in the section marked “explosive”. Or maybe near Bowen, another contrarian voice, though Bowen’s was the voice of the archive and Pietersen’s is the voice of the ego. Either way, it has a place — not as literature to revere, but as testimony to an era when cricket could no longer hide behind politeness. KP ripped the curtain, and whether we cheer or boo, we cannot pretend the curtain is still there.

[Jordan-Glen Bradbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book following my of my favourite athletes to follow and watch throughout my childhood and teens.

Great insight into KP and his approach to cricket and life as well as great insight into the “other side” of the story in which the media portrayed him.

I couldn’t put the book down at times. Loved it!

[Hossain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping this book would finally clarify the real reasons of why Kevin Pietersen was dropped from the team, but unfortunately it is still somewhat unclear.

It was a easy read and he seems honest, although sometimes it feels that he was omitting something important. Also he used up a huge portion of the book to just attack Matt Prior (it gets ridiculous at times) and Andy Flower and wrote very little of his early years, great innings or the great successes he and his teammates got from 2008 to 2012, but that doesn't mean it is not entertaining or informative.

That was obviously a sad way to go. but I think his time was ending. He was performing poorly for a year, he had an injury to boot. Even he said he couldn't give 100% to the games. And now we know how he is performing T20 leagues. But yes he might have been kicked out a little early but not too early. He was not blameless.

Cricket is more individualistic than some other sports like football or hockey. He reminds you again how that cricket is an individual game in a team setting and batting is even more so. However there is a limit. And after reading this book you realized Kevin Pietersen is not a team person. He didn't even really tried to be one. He took little slights too personally. He wanted extra preference from the management. He didn't have good relations with any Captains except for maybe Michael Vaughan. He was too unhappy with his teammates. Contrast how he talked about his IPL mates and you realize how miserable he was with the English team. His philosophy for playing English team can be surmised from the talk he had with Downtown. Which goes like this

where do you see yourself in the future?

I would love to get ten thousand Test runs, and I still think I can offer that. I want to pursue that dream.

Hmm, he said, I would have preferred you to have said, I would like to help England win matches.

If I score ten thousand runs the way I am batting, England will win matches.

Well, he said, I still would have preferred you to have said the other thing.

Nevertheless he had good reasons to be angry with his teammates and with the ECB. The "textgate"[finally it is nice to know that Doos does not mean cunt] and the "KP genius" debacle should have been managed better by the ECB management system. Perhaps if he was little more easygoing and and the environment/ management system were more better we wouldn't see his sudden demise.

I agree with his statement As he puts it: "I was often naive and sometimes stupid.[and shallow, insecure, egomaniac dick] I was no villain, though." But neither Matt Prior or Andy Flower is the villain he made out to be. And I personally didn't really like his insults to Andy Flower. Andy was a better player than him. He was a hero to me he still is. He was like the Bradman of Zimbabwe team. I still remember his valiant one man fight against in the South Africa test series in early 2000s and the protest he did against Govt of Zimbabwe.

Lets just hope people remember him as one of the modern great of English cricket, creator of switch hit, hero of the T20 world cup 2010 and not as Martin Crowe proclaimed "....he is a dead duck, adored by a few, loathed by as many, and dismissed by the general mob."

[Jenny Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

It becomes very clear in this book why Kevin Pietersen is either hated, or loved. To some extent, he was certainly his own worst enemy. He admits to behaving badly at times and having to apologise to really good guys in the team for jumping to conclusions and speaking inapproriately. There are quite a few instances in the book where I had the feeling "petty squabbles" but it is written with many funny quotes or comments.... a lot of them resonant of the South African humour. I loved that it made me smile. I was surprised at how tough the lives are of international cricketers and how little time they have with their families. The English cricket board clearly needed his talent desperately but seemed to be aggrieved that this was the case - they definitely did not enjoy his personality. Did some "side research" and his claims of locker room discontent, cliqueness and bullying, certainly seem to hold up.

[Shahine Ardeshir · Rating 1 out of 5]

Autobiography is a loose term to describe this book. Rant is probably more accurate.

From the word go, it is clear that Pietersen's primary intent with writing this book is to let off steam. There's little in here about cricket or his personal life and far too much about what a bunch of twats make up the English Cricket Board, and how terrible the English locker-room atmosphere was and how wrong everyone else was about everything they ever said or thought of him. And after a couple of chapters, it starts to get old.

The single most sensible, educational and interesting part of this book was the two-page email that Rahul Dravid wrote to KP that he transcribed word for word. If you have the unfortunate fate of being stuck with this book, that's the only part I'd recommend looking up and reading. Every else is a repetitive waste of everyone's time.

[Jeeva Sk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Kevin,

I had always loved you, for the way you carried the game. The brutal sixes, the switch hits which sails past the line. A right handed Sourav. But what you did behind the scenes were horrible. It's evident in your prose that you were a rebellion, but not the kind I had looked up for, from the guy who will hold an innings together by attacking the opponent all the way.

Last month when I read you not being picked up for the NZ tour, I thought I could read about you a little, and it was a let down. You tried to defend yourself, but it was easy to read between the lines. There were knots missing. C'mon Kevin this is an autobiography not a case study on the behaviour of Andy Flower and Matt Prior.

There were more forthright things I expected from you. Do write something when you don't feel like sledging someone for an entire book.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading all the reviews and watching the TV interviews I was really looking forward to reading this autobiography but what a disappointment. If you have read the excepts in the press you will learn very little reading the full story. Repetition throughout as Andy Flower & co are mentioned time and time again in the same derisory manner. A generous 3 star rating.

[Ashish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, honest account of his version of the times between 2005-2014 inside that English dressing room. Just pathetic management both inside and outside English cricket. You can see how he matures over the years yet wears his emotion, pride and straight talk up his sleeve. KP adds some witty humor around those cynical times. World cricket is at loss not to witness more of KP!

[Amandeep Sibia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting.

Doesn't portray much of the English Cricket setup in good light, though not sure if I believe every word. As always, just one side of the story.

[Anandraj R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blunt & brutally honest. Slaughtered ECB & Andy flower chapter by chapter. This book should be renamed as 'KP's Rants against ECB'

[Oliver O'Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great insights, but also a lack of self awareness for KP

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billed as the book that rocked the cricketing world this book is the story of Kevin Pietersen, one of England cricket's most loved and hated players.  The autobiography reveals the stories behind the highs and lows of his career, and gives Kevin a chance to tell his side of stories that any English cricket fan will be familiar with from the media.


This has been sitting on my shelf for a while now just waiting for the right time for me to read it.  It's 6 years since the disasterous 2023/14 Ashes series that saw KP dropped from the England squad, despite being the leading run scorer.  Having grown up watching cricket with my family I remember all the stories in the media, especially Textgate as it is dubbed here.  For me Kevin Pietersen was a player that could never please everyone.  People wanted him to be the brilliant maverick player that would take risks and potentially be a game changing player, but when those risks didn't pay off they wanted to slam him for being irresponsible.  I was looking forward to reading his side of the story.

The book actually turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me, and hard to read and follow at times.  I was expecting a traditional style autobiography, running through his early years up until when he was dropped, and tackling events in chronological order.  What you get is a muddle of KP's life as an England player, jumping backwards and forwards across his career and focusing very heavily on what he believes were the failures of certain individuals. 

I found the insights into the way that the England team was run, and the state of the dressing room, to be very interesting.  This is a very one sided view, as you would expect with an autobiography, but it still shows an image that is 100% not what I would have expected to hear.  I'm interested to read the books written by some of the other players in the squad at that time to see what their take was, and to get a more balanced view.  There is one thing that can't be denied though, whatever was happening in the squad during that 2013/14 Ashes series wasn't working.

I would have liked to read more about Kevin's early years, growing up in South Africa and what brought him to playing for England.  I think that would help us to understand him more as a man and a player.  It seems to me that the book was written at a time when Kevin was still feeling very angry about what happened (which is his right), and is used as a conduit to vent his feelings towards those he felt wronged him and made his life so difficult.  Andy Flower and Matt Prior in particular take a heavy beating.  I would be fascinated to know how he would write about the same events now, after some time has passed.  Within the last few weeks both KP and Prior shared a picture of themselves shaking hands, with the tagline 'let bygones be bygones', which suggests the dust has settled a bit.

I found this an engaging read, despite it not being exactly what I had hoped.  It definitelt made me consider a different view of the England players and dressing room.  I found it hard to be sympathetic towards Kevin, despite it being clear he wasn't in a good place during those England years.  I understand the points he was trying to get across but it came across too much like he was saying that nobody would try to understand his point of view or make compromises with him, when he was unwilling to do the same for other people.  If you are an English cricket fan this is definitely something you should read. Just remember that this is one side of the story, the media and other players have another, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle of it all.

[Samikshan Sengupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked KP right from the start.

First of all, he was a DIFFERENT England batsman to boot. And secondly, the way he "treated" Glenn Mcgrath in that brief debut innings at Lords, really captured my imagination.
Till then Mcgrath was a champion bowler, a metronome, the points in the pitch where he landed the ball, probably caved in by millimeters by the end of the day, because landed all of them right there. He was bloody impossible to hit out of the park & more importantly, I believed he had the upper hand against our maestro Sachin Tendulkar, at that point in his career.

KP just came in & walked up to GM & smashed him out of Lords. He looked like a different player.

And yes, he WAS DIFFERENT !

However, as much as I followed cricket, KP raised his game to greater heights over the years, we were all eager when he was appointed captain. And then suddenly, swoosh...everything fell apart.

Left-arm spinners found chinks in his armor. Guys like Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, all exploited the weakness. But that was prima facie.

Something else was eating Kevin, the puffin.

Yeah, I heard reports in the media that all was not good between him & Andy Flower, another batsman I admired. But what was the problem exactly? I didn't know.

A few questions also raised their ugly heads from time to time.

I have seen several English players, over the years, suffer from mental issues. Marcus Trescothick left the game at his prime, citing "home-sickness". A few English players also left tours mid-way for their homes, I remember, Steven Harmison did something similar.
Of late, Jonathan Trott, a quintessential Number 3 for England, took premature retirement. Many cited the trauma inflicted by the mean & improved Mitchell Johnson (2.0). But I didn't buy it.

Why is it always the English players who suffer from these breakdowns? Every cricket-playing country travels overseas and spend more than 250 days per year playing the game or on tours. Then why England? Yes, it's one of the "Big 3". But what about India? What about Australia?

It's absolute bullshit that the Poms are somehow mentally "weak" than the others.

The book provides answers to all these questions.

More interestingly, almost all the cricketers' biographies I have ever read, follow this pattern.


1. I was born here...My parents were great...blah blah blah...I suddenly started playing cricket...

2. I was good/great at playing the game...blah blah...scored in domestic cricket...suddenly got a national call up...Completely unexpected (how???)...blah blah...parents proud of me...

3. I debuted...I faced these players..I won/lost..I strived hard, excelled...blah blah blah...enjoyed...

4. Fell into a slump...Had problems....blah blah...My wife very supportive (despite (or maybe because of) getting me only 100 days a year)....my kid...my munchkin....blah blah...

5. I recovered {happens less} or I retired (seemingly gracefully)...blah blah...

6. Loads of pics...

KP cuts through all that BS.

The book seems like KP is sitting down at the cafe to tell you his story, his failings, his confessions, a bit of his wins (not much at all), his teammates, a bit of his family, his wife & kids...

You get the idea that he is a nice human being, a loving husband, a great father, and a bit extroverted player, who believes he is a cut above the rest. He loves humility, but he isn't humble. He is a bit of a "hero", he is brash...But he is HONEST.

Loved the book. Finished in a day.

[Nona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well what a complex character Kevin Pietersen is. In this autobiography he is clearly asking the reader to believe in him, to love him, champion his cause; in fact, wants everything on his terms. He certainly has a chip on his shoulder, which I believe stems from the fact he is so enamored with his cricket prowess he believes the English should bow down before him, and thank him for leaving South Africa and moving to England.
No doubt he is a good cricketer. I have seen him play and he has an excellent understanding of the game and what he can do with the bat and ball, particularly the bat. What comes through very, very clearly is that in spite of his protestations he is not a team player. He has put himself on a pedestal and no body or no thing is going to remove him.
In spite of the book covering many years it is in itself very repetitive, in that the same problems keep on arising for PIETERSEN. He outlines them very clearly and yet he has never learnt from the past, and been able to fix them.
What would be considered as a powerful and wanted trait is belief in oneself. PIETERSEN has this in bucket loads, but he has turned it into selfishness.
He appears to be constantly paranoid about fitness tests and meetings and yet he constantly tells us of his wonderful capabilities and sporting records. He is setting the reader against himself, as we all know how capable he was on the field for which he had to be extremely fit and yet we get over and over about fitness tests and his fear of them. Is he telling us fitness was not an issue with his body and that he could do whatever he wanted with the bat? Then later we read him winging about knee problems and pain killers. It is a common thread with all today's athletes in issues of body strain and reconstructions and yearning to get back to the field and overcome health issues. PIETERSEN writes as though he is the only person to have these setbacks and we see this in his constant repetition.
I do not think he is entirely honest and that he harbours guilt feelings over his texts and comments to the media. It is a grey murky area that is not fully explained and yet he insists we must believe him, he has been hacked.
His hatred of Andy FLOWER and other England Captains holds no bounds, and as evidenced by newspaper reports all around the world he has never been one to hold back, and appears to invite controversy.
I also believe there are issues with an inferiority complex, and I evidence this in his continual attack on others, governing bodies' decisions and his lack of comradeship with teams he play with and against.
I feel there is very little warmth in him although he tells us he has many long standing friends. Partners of cricketers and all sporting people who constantly travel the world must be exceptional people themselves to endure the separations and lack of familiarity. Sure the mobile phone and face time programs do contribute to communication, but the separation places a huge strain on a relationship. PIETERSEN wants the world to believe his sacking saved his marriage and allowed him to begin a project on saving the Rhinos......mmmmmm
He also tries to dispel the money aspect of playing in the IPL both with his co players and readers, as he really enjoyed the flavour and vitality of the league. Then he changes his tune and says the money will set him and his family up for the future.
In all his book really did much to dispel our opinion of his as a brash, outspoken, brilliant cricketer, but it does give us an in sight into the complexity of the man.

[Omar Nizam · Rating 1 out of 5]

- Book Review: "KP: The Autobiography" by Kevin Pietersen - 📚🏏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇿🇦 Kevin Pietersen is a South African born cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team from 2004 to 2014. Within this time, he was known for being a flamboyant batsman.

His career came to an abrupt end in 2014 following England's disastrous Ashes tour of Australia, where they lost the Test series 5-0. Although the entire England team came up against a highly resurgent Australia, it was only Pietersen who was singled out for blame due to his alleged 'negative' influence on the team and the team environment. Pietersen was subsequently "fired" from the team and forced into retirement.

This then, is the context in which this book was written, which is immediately after that 2014 tour. It is therefore not an "autobiography", but a complete "rant" against the people whom he feels hard done by.

While it's perfectly fine to use one's autobiography to settle one or two scores and set the record straight, the book itself is so badly written that one could very well imagine Pietersen giving his publishers an audio recording of his story, and then having that audio recording simply transcribed wholesale onto the book. It is fair to say that the book comes across as choppy, rushed, and haphazard.

Pietersen's back story of leaving South Africa in protest of their policy of "Positive Discrimination" would have made this an excellent bedrock on which to write the book. Instead, the reader has to be content with the crumbs that are on offer on this very important topic, and has to come to the reluctant conclusion that perhaps Pietersen has neither the desire nor the ability to engage his readers in what is surely a topic that resonates throughout all cultures and civilizations.

The book very rightly deserves 3 pukes and a barf, subject to a complete re-write of a biography that is befitting his remarkable backstory and on-field accomplishments.

My rating: 🤢🤢🤢🤮

[Sarah-Jayne Windridge-France · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I appreciate that it's not for everyone - but as a cricketer's daughter and having attended matches for the best part of 30 years and having known Darren Gough and briefly meeting Kevin - I was keen to read this.

I hate that Kevin had such a bad press. I know press only too well and how PR and journo's put a spin on everything and how they love nothing more than 'picking' on someone and KP was 'it' for the England team for so long, far too - a scapegoat for so many faux pas. The young, good-looking South African married to the pop star, who liked to have a laugh - what wasn't to love.... he was a great player - but the ECB treat him really badly. What I wasn't aware of was how badly or more importantly how incestuously badly he was let down by his team and what were supposedly his team 'mates!'

I'm inclined to believe KP's tale - just because he's a mate of Darren's and Darren's a really good Yorkshire fella and a good judge of character - I can't imagine a friend of his being a 'wrong 'un!'

We're all entitled to our opinions, but reading between the lines, and knowing cricket as I do, albeit more Bradford League and Yorkshire Cricket League, I know what goes on behind closed doors ... and what's playing out in the media right now only proves my theory.

There's always two sides to every story - but one side generally weighs heavier.

You're a great player KP and I think England did you a massive disservice. I for one enjoyed watching you. I only wish you and your family well and hope that one day I might get chance to see you put leather to willow again with some force!

[Abhishek Shetty · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you can see from my other reviews, I am a big fan of cricket autobiographies. I love the story behind the player. There is always a story. A really good story. And there was one here too. Kevin Pietersen was born to an English Mother and South African Father. He moved to England because of the quota system in place in South Africa where each team had to have representation from the black community. He played for county teams like Nottinghamshire and Hampshire. He was successful there. He was called up to the England team for the Ashes 2005. He scored a hundred in the fifth test. And his life changed forever. English cricket had a superstar.

But this was just the start. Then came the big Ashes defeat the next year, the captaincy controversy, the sacking of coach Peter Moores, the clashes with Andy Flower, the politics of the English dressing room, the Texgate scandal, the fake twitter account that mocked KP by Stuart Broad and more. He reemerged through all these situations and still managed to score 10,000 runs across formats over his nine year long career that ended in 2014.

He was a super talented batsman. But in sports, talent is not always enough. A lot of other things have to fall in place to ensure that you have a successful career. This is a classic in sports autobiographies and I highly recommend it to get a glimpse into the life of one of England's top cricketers.

[Anal Ghosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

From a major sportspersons' autobiography, you would ideally expect the story of his life and his journey as a sportsman with fascinating nuggets from it. And with a maverick and adventurous career like that of KP, some accounts of controversies and politics at play. This book is almost entirely the latter from 2005-14, and an one-sided account of coming clean. KP keeps crying and whining through the book venting out against Flower, Matt Prior, Strauss and ECB in particular. Yes, there is a lot of interesting dressing room and management drama which get light, but they keep getting repeated again and again. All issues come down to 3 scenarios - either how others conspired and targeted him, or excuses (injuries, frame of mind, family, etc.) or very rarely, an apology in hindsight. The writing style is pedestrian (like KP's nagging commentary) and there's hardly any editing.

The best part of the book is the 2-page email Dravid wrote to him about how he should improve his batting against spin bowling. Fascinating.

[Siddharrth Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sourav Ganguly once said in an interview, that Harbhajan Singh came into the side with a tag of being Indisciplined. The then Indian Captain retorted that, as long as Bhajji can get him wickets on the field, he would give two hoots about the tag.

Kevin Pietersen belongs to that bracket of the likes of Bhajji, Shoaib Akhtar, who were known to be a rebel, but unfortunately, KP wasn't handled well by his English Board, and in particularly the two coaches in Peter Moores and Andy Flower.

KP was an extraordinary batsman who'd go onto score heaps of runs for the Royals but would eventually fall victim to the pavilion backstabbing and his fallout during the 'Textgate'.

His autobiography is a good read, and especially for those who are cricket aficionados. Do read to get a better insight on the 'Textgate' and other related controversies. 📚