Kev was ahead of his time with both his mindset and skills. The inventor of the switch hit, and the most ardent supporter of the IPL before it became mainstream.
The flamingo flicks through mid-wicket in Test matches and hitting Glenn McGrath back over his head for six at Lord’s in 2005.
None of which would look out of place now in 2026.
But, he never thought he’d cracked the game.
In 2012 when we were in Sri Lanka, I remember turning up for training at the SSC in Colombo to play a warm-up game and Kev had already been there for an hour facing local left-arm spin bowlers in order to try to correct his technique (ironically overseen by Andy Flower) that had been a problem for him intermittently.
As a result of that hard work he scored the most remarkable 151 against Rangana Herath in the second Test, hitting him to all parts, and backed it up later that year against India away to seal a historic red-ball series victory where his runs, particularly in Mumbai, formed the bedrock of the win.
Those runs and the manner with which they were scored, wouldn’t have been possible without those long practice sessions while people weren’t watching.
It wasn’t just about him improving too. In Perth during the 2013-14 Ashes, when Mitchell Johnson and his moustache were running amok, it wouldn’t be out of place to see a tailender looking shellshocked at the prospect of having to go and face him in the corner of the dressing room.
I vividly remember KP coming over to me (even though I wasn’t in the starting XI), and saying ‘let’s go practice facing the short ball in the nets’. He threw bouncers at my head and helped me figure out a technique to be able to play (mainly evade) the short-pitched bowling.
I don’t know whether at that stage of the tour he just wanted to be out of the dressing room rather than in it, but it helped me.
I can see him doing similar things with players he sees areas of improvement with in his role as mentor.
