Kevin Pietersen vs Joe Root

[Jack1]

All formats considered

 

[Athlai]

I was thinking about this earlier. Root by a narrow margin IMO but KP definitely has more of an "aura".

 

[TheJediBrah]

KP. Legend who stood up to the bullying culture in the English set up and was ostracised for it. Always loved him.

He was kind of a **** tho, but all great people are

 

[Jack1]

He was the most entertaining player England ever had apart from Botham. They did him dirty.

 

[honestbharani]

I love KP but Root has been better.

 

[Kirkut]

KP had an aura..

 

[Flem274*]

Root pretty comfortably.

 

[Jack1]

Root pretty comfortably.

Not working

 

[TheJediBrah]

If it's comfortable you're going too easy

 

[Jack1]

If it's comfortable you're going too easy

He’ll learn

 

[Coronis]

Pietersen better in tests, Root better in ODI’s, I always go for tests.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

KP is a rare genius and a candidate for England’s best ever middle order batsman. But a complete tosser.

 

[Bijed]

Pietersen had the highest ceiling (in terms of how well he could play in any given innings) of any England test player I've known (although I guess Stokes challenges that tbf). Root wins out across all formats though.

 

[Teja.]

KP is a slightly better test player if we compare their careers now but Root will almost definitely be better by the time he retires.

KP is underrated though.

 

[sledger]

KP an absolutely remarkable player. And a remarkable ****.

 

[grecian]

Bullying culture bollox, same bullying culture that followed him around everywhere apparently, even had fall-outs in his School I think.

We did remarkably well to get what we did out of him, and at the end his knee was ****ed, not sure what else we could have gotten.

Anyway, about the same in Tests, about the same in T20, Root far superior ODI player. So Root. Better spinner too, as batting not mentioned in OP, and better fielder, so maybe not even close.

OP who clearly is not getting the answer he wanted in a poll is always a glorious thing though.

 

[BoyBrumby]

With Pietersen, given the magnitude of his ability, one can't help shake off the feeling he mildly underachieved when one looks back on his career as a whole.

Root not quite so lavishly gifted, but will probably end up looking back on a better career overall.

 

[Flem274*]

roots more lavishly gifted too imo. was immediately ominous as a very young man down at #6. looked a complete player in his early 20s.

KP has a serious highlights reel, but it tends to gloss over a lot of bad times. i was actually surprised when i looked a few months back that root has already surpassed KP statistically, but when i thought about it, it made sense. both have big ashes and india knocks, but root also turns up on a day to day basis. i wonder if players with a greater variation between their best and worst like KP, abdv and clarke get a coat of make up after retirement when compared to the likes of root, kallis and ponting?

 

[Jack1]

KP. Legend who stood up to the bullying culture in the English set up and was ostracised for it. Always loved him.

He was kind of a **** tho, but all great people are

KP took one for the team I think. It's difficult to assess him too much without knowing him for sure, but I think he was trying to help all along. I don't really know about his batting, he was a very talented player but didn't have the same mentality as some of the others in the team. If he had Bradman's mindset he would he probably averaged over 60. Obviously Smith is the most similar player to Bradman technically and his average is insane despite all the troubles he has had. Root definitely is more sound, but I don't think it's fair to judge by that. I think it's unfair to rate Pietersen lower when he was so good in t20 compared to Root, suppose that is partly down to his size compared to Root. I think they are a dead heat in tests I couldn't put one above the other. Yes he caused trouble but sometimes the players get to international level without much life experience so I am willing to cut them some slack.

 

[honestbharani]

I think KP is a massive **** but there are even more massive ***** in that England team and he was definitely bullied and scapegoated by those bigger ***** in the team. He was also a brilliant batsman and one of the best England have ever had.

But Root is knocking on the ATG door if not there already and therefore better just as a batsman across formats IMO.