‘It’s been a tough journey,’ says triumphant 'KP'

Keegan Pietersen has a light touch in the dressing-room, but his performances on the field represented a hammer blow for his team against India, helping him win the player of the match and series awards at Newlands yesterday as the Proteas basked in their shock 2-1 series victory over India.

Petersen struck three half-centuries in the series, 62 at the Wanderers, and 72 and 82 at Newlands, to land his prizes as well as become the leading run scorer (276).

Asked how he was feeling, Petersen chuckled: “I don’t know. It hasn’t sunk in yet, you’ll have to ask me again in a couple of hours. At the moment all I can say is that I’m happy, emotional and just grateful to have the opportunity.”

The Dolphins’ batsman did admit, however, that it had been a “tough journey” from his test debut in the West Indies last winter to the end of the India series. “It’s not been easy, it’s been difficult conditions all round. But I’ve stuck to my guns and trusted myself.”

Asked to elaborate, Petersen showed his humorous side. “I can’t tell the whole story, we’ll be here until tomorrow morning. But I took every little positive I could from each innings and tried to build from there. The thing was to just deal with what was in front of me.”

Petersen said he knew how difficult it was going to be on pace-friendly pitches against high-quality bowlers. “We just had to tough it out.”

He said that the key was spending time at the wicket. “That was crucial. The longer you bat the easier it gets and the runs start to come.”