By IANS,
London : England captain Kevin Pietersen has admitted that he played the first Test against India in Chennai with a fractured rib.
The England captain fractured the rib before the final one-day international in Cuttack nearly three weeks ago. He admitted to sleepless nights before the Chennai Test as he agonised over the debate about whether England should accept security advice that it was safe to return to India, but until Monday he repeatedly played down the extent of his rib injury.
“I have got a fractured rib. There are no dramas. I will deal with it. I don’t like injections. I will just take painkillers,” Pietersen was quoted as saying in The Guardian Tuesday.
Pietersen, who scored just four and one in the two innings at Chennai, was in obvious discomfort in the field Monday, clutching his right side several times as he threw in underarm. He is determined to play in the second Test in Mohali, which begins Friday, as he seeks to hold together the spirit of an England squad which was badly jolted by India’s successful chase of their target of 387.
Pietersen has had a similar rib complaint before. He had to return home early from a one-day series in Australia nearly two years ago after he tried to walk down the pitch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to pull Glenn McGrath and suffered the consequences.