'Batting today way easier than 20-25 years ago': Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen

England great Kevin Pietersen has stirred a fresh debate by claiming that batting in the current era is "way easier" than it was 20-25 years ago, suggesting a decline in the quality of bowling across Test-playing nations.

Pietersen's comments came a day after fellow England batter Joe Root overtook Australia great Ricky Ponting to climb to second place in the all-time list of Test run scorers. "Don't shout at me but batting these days is way easier than 20-25 years ago! Probably twice as hard back then!," Pietersen wrote on X on Saturday.

The former right-handed batter made 8,181 runs at 47.28 with 23 tons and 35 fifties in 104 Tests.

Pietersen named a host of bowlers from the past eras and challenged his readers to name 10 contemporary bowlers who can be compared with them. "Waqar, Shoaib, Akram, Mushtaq, Kumble, Srinath, Harbhajan, Donald, Pollock, Klusener, Gough, McGrath, Lee, Warne, Gillespie, Bond, Vettori, Cairns, Vaas, Murali, Curtley, Courtney and the list could go on and on.

"I've named 22 above. Please name me 10 modern day bowlers that can compare to the names above?" he added.

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