Kevin Pietersen’s recently released autobiography, KP: The Autobiography, among other things, also contains an email that Rahul Dravid had sent to KP on how to play spin. This inspired Viru to shoot off his own email to Pietersen on how he toys with spinners. Our cricket correspondent, Geoffrey Howzatt, managed to get hold this correspondence for the sake of cricket aficionados:

Peter,

I hope you don’t mind me calling you Peter. Even if you mind, I wouldn’t stop calling you Peter, Peter. LOL!

Peter, I tried to read that letter by Rahul Dravid to you on playing spin but fell asleep when he started talking about footwork. Since you are not unlike me, I guess you must have also got distracted while reading the letter and SMSed a joke or two to Graeme, Smith not Swann. Ok, just kidding. Don’t worry. Not everyone gets Haryanvi humour anyway.

I’ll start with a disclaimer: I have not batted against the two of them [two Bangladeshi bowlers we had been discussing] and also have not been able to watch them in this series.

I’ll follow my disclaimer with a claimer: Though I have not seen them bowl, I know that I would have hit sixes in their first overs. Bowlers need to know their place. Especially, if they are spinners.

If some of what I say makes no sense, then you are an idiot and you can stop reading this letter now. As we know, giving advice is easy, but hitting sixes of spinners is easier.

They do bowl quicker and if the tracks have been turning then it’s always going to be a challenge to most people. Not me, though. Against guys who bowl a bit quicker [and I grew up playing spinners like Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra], I would look to get my foot out of the way and smash them out of the ground. But then I would do the same to everyone else. You should too.

Footwork is for mere mortals, Peter. The only thing that can mess your mind up is worrying about the footwork. As they say, an idle mind is a Devil’s workshop. To keep my mind off footwork, I always hum a song by Kishore Kumar. You English don’t have geniuses like Kishore da but you can try Susan Boyle, Iron Maiden, Queen or whatever the crap you listen to.

The only batting philosophy I ever believed in is – “See Ball Hit Ball“. Remember, the only good place for a foot is where it is out of the way of the bat swing. Every ball that beats your bat is a ball that you could and should have scored off [I count how often people get beaten]. The only ball that gets you out is the one you don’t hit for a four or six. The only bowler who thinks he’s good is the one you don’t hit over the sight screen.

You can practice a few things though – in the nets try and pick length from the bowler’s hand. And then hit it out of the ground. One good practice is to bat in the nets against your team’s spinners without any protection. No helmet, no pads, no abdominal guards. Just “See Ball Hit Ball“. Have you noticed how every spinner who makes it to Indian team tends to bowl faster and faster every year and drifts towards the legs? It’s because they are trying to hurt me in the nets all the time by bowling faster and faster aiming at my legs. That ruins them alright. Bhajji sometimes hurls them at 130 kmph, a full 10 kmph faster than the fastest ball by our pacer Vinay Kumar.

Peter, you are a genius batsman. Not as much of a genius as me, but genius anyway. You need to trust yourself and clear you head off of the nonsense that is footwork. Under stress, we might start thinking about the footwork and miss the vital philosophy that is “See Ball Hit Ball“. Remember to keep it simple. Back to the basics. Start afresh. And contact Ravi Shashtri for more cliches.

Anyway, I probably rambled on too much. I have to now accompany Gautam Gambhir for a session he is holding at my academy on running between the wickets.

Viru!