Andrew Strauss' sense of reflection touches the right notes in the retelling of the Kevin Pietersen story

NICK FRIEND: Sky are rolling out an episode during each Ashes Test, but it is a tale that encourages a solitary binge. That was the nature of Pietersen as a player – unfailingly watchable, abidingly box-office. Take your eye off him at your peril

We need to talk about Kevin. Because, let’s face it, we always have done.

From the wonders of 2005 to the Textgate scandal of 2012 to the acrimonious mystery of his final rites as an England cricketer, there has never been a time when Pietersen has slipped below the radar.

Even since his official retirement from the sport – an uncharacteristically low-key departure from the T20 circuit, his magnificent work in the world of rhino conservation has given him a cause to promote.

In KP: Story of a Genius, a series whose previews have been carefully drip-fed through the early parts of the summer, each of those different ages of his playing career are explored with a balanced consideration that has lacked in so much of the literature and coverage since his departure from the international scene.

It is a five-pronged delve into a staggering career, touching on the stories that both marked and marred Pietersen’s thrilling career.

Sky are rolling out a single portion during each Ashes Test, but it is a tale that encourages a solitary binge. That was the nature of Pietersen as a player – unfailingly watchable, abidingly box-office. Take your eye off him at your peril. Where he was involved, few ever left their seats.

What stands out, in truth, is the ageless dilemma of the relationship between this generational star and his national team. From the views aired, it seems both a miracle that this marriage – first, a romantic whirlwind, latterly a loveless convenience – lasted and profited for as long as it did. But then, it seems so maddening that England could have let go of a cricketer so exhilarating.

Nasser Hussain is terrific in the role of David Frost; there are few sports broadcasters more accomplished than the former England captain. The breadth of interviewees – from Pietersen’s upbringing in Pietermaritzburg through to his post-cricketing return to South Africa – leaves few stones unturned, even if some opted against being part of this look back into England's rise to an previously unchartered zenith and subsequent fall into a quagmire that saw a team and its culture disbanded.

As a production, it is neither love-in nor assassination. The tough questions are asked, but the memories of hundreds at The Oval, Colombo, Adelaide, Headingley and others are retained. It is an exercise in nuance. There is no doubting of his talent - there never was. Rather, the phenomenon of Pietersen the batsman is built up. For David Lloyd, he is the best English player he has seen.

It is a joyous recollection of his destruction of Dale Steyn in Pietersen’s worst week, yet also a question of his loyalty. It touches on his early days, praising his audacity in leaving his homeland for England, but then homes in on his fallout with his teammates at Nottinghamshire.

Every base is covered. It should not be viewed as a negative that Pietersen’s story has been retold, but rather a positive that the tale of one of English cricket’s most extraordinary figures has been given this platform.

But it is Hussain’s one-time former teammate Andrew Strauss who comes closest to stealing Pietersen’s own thunder as the leading light here.

^{Kevin Pietersen's story has been serialised in a documentary series presented by Nasser Hussain}

The irony, of course, is there for all to see. Nobody won from the debacle that ended this glorious time for English cricket. Everybody lost and, Pietersen apart, few were left as affected as Strauss – the victim of the text-message scandal that erupted on the eve of his own retirement from Test cricket.

As captain of the side that reached No.1 in the world and the mastermind behind the Ashes triumph so brilliantly captured in Barney Douglas’ The Edge, he deserved a fairer ending to his exemplary service. If Strauss had spoken to Hussain in an embittered manner with an axe to grind, many would have understood.

However, he spoke with a measure of reflection that provided this venture with a purpose. So much has been written and said of the fascinating relationship between Pietersen and England; but so little has previously been learnt or revealed.

In Strauss, though, there sat a classy individual – a beacon of balance and dignity, a man willing to admit his own errors in the messy handling of one of England’s all-time greats. He believes he became more distant from Pietersen as others from the 2005 Ashes-winning side dispersed. There is a disappointment to how it concluded, of course. He remains hurt by those texts, whatever their content, but not to the extent that his emotions are clouded.

“He will be remembered as a slightly divisive character who fell out with people but, by God, could he play the game of cricket,” Strauss reflects.

It feels a perfect description from a man who lived many of Pietersen’s best and worst times in an England shirt.

Beyond Strauss, however, it is still a fascinating watch. It is clear that the tumult of this era remains raw, a wound that has long-been bandaged but rarely unravelled. Some who were asked for their thoughts still found the bitterness of the aftermath too tender.

From the words of the characters interviewed, it is easy to see why – by the end – a cohesive winning machine had become a chaotic fragment of what had once existed.

There is a discussion between Hussain and Pietersen over the rights and wrongs of Textgate, while Graeme Swann and Piers Morgan weigh in with their own takes on Pietersen’s ultimate demise from the England fold and the effect on those who became collateral damage - Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, to name two.

There is little middle ground; there rarely ever was with Pietersen. To have their views broadcast, though, is a treat. So much mud was slung across social media – Morgan confesses that the #BringBackKP campaign may actually have backfired in the public’s sympathy for his culling.

Fittingly in the KP story, few have changed their tune – those who sat on one side of the fence have not shifted. Those on the other are rooted in their opposing views. But that was the thrill of Pietersen; he polarised like few others in English cricket could ever truly envisage. Pietersen does not appear to have changed his own opinions.

As journalist Paul Newman remarks in his recollections with Hussain, Pietersen made the back pages of newspapers even during the 2012 Olympics. His talent and the controversy that often tailed him transcended the game.

“How many players now are trying to play like KP? All of them,” states Darren Gough. It is a quote at the crux of much of this look back into Pietersen as a batsman ahead of his time. On his quest for the freedom to play in the IPL, he has been proven right; the beneficiaries have been his successors.

Perhaps, if there is a heart-warming aspect to a difficult, well-told tale, it is in the reflections of Pietersen as an on-field beast.

It is the one moment at which there is total unanimity. It is a telling reminder of an undeniable, unparalleled showman. Whatever their gripes, however fraught their relationships, wherever their true feelings lay, none deny his genius.

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