There are not many days left for the 2024 T20 World Cup to begin and 19 of the 20 teams participating in it have selected their provisional team. Which player is causing a ruckus over not being selected in the T20 World Cup team – perhaps not even one. Even in the Australian team, there is a discussion about not selecting experienced batsman Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk, who shone in the IPL, but there is no controversy over this in Australia itself – there is no ruckus. We are going to play the 9th event in the T20 World Cup and if voting is done for the one 'non-selection' considered most controversial in this, then the story of Kevin Pietersen will get the most votes. What was this matter?

Let's go straight to the 2010 T20 World Cup. This World Cup was very special for England – they became champions and one of the stars of the victory was Pietersen. Some experts consider Pietersen as the main reason for England winning an ICC title for the first time. Pietersen scored 248 runs in 6 innings at an average of 62 and a strike rate of 137+ and this was an amazing performance in the playing conditions of that time. He was also the Player of the Tournament. Therefore, when the team was being selected for the 2012 World Cup, Pietersen's name was bound to be in it – even then England did not select him. This was a decision that was discussed more outside England than in England. In many places it was also written that with this decision, England not only reduced the attraction of that showpiece T20 event, but also greatly reduced their chances of winning.

Why did this happen? Believe me – the answer to this question is still discussed in the cricket world and this was the beginning of the end of the career of a great cricketer. On 22 August 2012, England selected its provisional team and Pietersen's name was not in it. The truth is that the selectors also did not include him in the team for the ODI and T20 series against South Africa, which was playing a series in England at that time. This is a very complicated story.

South Africa were touring England that season and Pietersen played in the first two Tests – even scoring a brilliant 149 in the second Test at Leeds. The third Test was at Lord's and before that the bombshell exploded. It was reported that Pietersen was sending 'provocative' text messages to the South African players, criticising England's Test captain Andrew Strauss. One was criticising his own captain and that too in a message to the players of the other team. This made matters worse.

There was a big uproar and England took immediate action and dropped Pietersen from the Lord's Test team – despite being the Man of the Match in the previous Test. Incidentally, England lost this Test against South Africa by 51 runs. It seemed that the matter would end with this, but England dropped Pietersen from both the teams of the white ball series and did not even select him in the provisional team for the World Cup. Media reports of that time show that there was a lot of hope that before the date of final team selection, there would be a reconciliation between the board and Pietersen and he would return to the team, but this did not happen. It was clear in the statement of the chief of selectors Geoff Miller that whatever the result – England is in no hurry to bring Pietersen into the team.

The World Cup was then held in Sri Lanka and England's first match was against Afghanistan on 21 September. Of the 15 players selected for the team, 8 were from the 2010 squad but Pietersen was not. Pietersen apologized for the messages sent and also accepted that these were 'provocative' messages but team director Andy Flower said – 'Trust has been broken and the captain's reputation has been tarnished – these are some unresolved issues that need to be resolved.'

An attempt was made to arrange a meeting between Pietersen and Strauss to resolve the issue but the England captain, frustrated after the defeat to South Africa in the third Test, said that he had no interest in such a meeting and that the issues related to Pietersen would take 'some time to resolve.' It is on record that the board's policy at that time was to teach Pietersen a lesson and in a way, a path was paved to end the career of this great batsman.

Many media reports also say that the reason behind dragging this story for so long was the smoldering fire of another issue. At that time, there were not many T20 leagues like today and neither did the cricket boards of other countries easily give NOC to their players to play in IPL like today. Pietersen used to play in IPL and also international cricket for England, that is, his earning money from both was not liked by many in England. Pietersen gave them a chance to settle the score with the text scandal. Coach Andy Flower himself did not like the concession given to him in IPL. Today, many English cricketers play IPL and the board gives them a chance to play IPL and earn money even at the cost of the county season.

England, the 2010 champions, failed to make it past the second round in 2012 (defeated by both West Indies and Sri Lanka) but who cared? Pietersen returned to international cricket but paid the price for the controversy. His cricket was affected – he played just one more T20 International, against New Zealand at the Oval in June 2013.