Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hero on one day and villain on the next. Not so long ago hailed for his brave effort to return to India despite the Mumbai bomb blasts, Kevin Pietersen is now being dissected and condemned by the media for his spat with former coach Peter Moores.
English cricket is in total disarray. The tour to West Indies starts in a week and the Ashes comes up for grabs this summer.
Andrew Strauss has been given the task to lead England out of the turmoil and get down to the serious business of playing the game.
The road ahead won't be easy. The Pietersen-Moores row has created factions within the side. To add to the problems, Pietersen will go on the tour as the premier batsman.
Undoubtedly, the former England captain pushed his luck too far. Outspokenness is welcome within reason but turning it into a roaring rumpus is unacceptable.
In the English cricket scenario, it amounts to insubordination. Luckily, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), by its own inaction, ended the row to its own satisfaction.
Pietersen would be unacceptable given the circumstances and, by not taking sides, the ECB had his resignation on the table.
With the pressure growing on Moores over poor results, the ECB realised that given the new developments, it would be best to get rid of him.
Pietersen should have known from past experience that the ECB's attitude towards problems was to let things lie and hope for the best.
The former captain made the cardinal mistake of making demands on the ECB. His ultimatum to get Moores sacked did not go down well and many critics began to call for his head.
Pietersen paid the price for pushing his luck too far. He was probably under the impression that his dynamic style of captaincy was indispensable.
England's cricket history will reveal that the steady and dependable always won preference to lead the team. Mike Atherton or Ray Illingworth were the kind of men England looked to as leaders.
Flamboyance was welcome but it did not make leadership material in the English books. No wonder that the great Dennis Compton was always the best man but never the full-time captain.
Spare a thought for Pietersen though. His five-month reign brought a lot of optimism to English cricket.
His winning start as captain was seen as the dawn of a new era in English cricket.
That dream was shattered as England struggled against a strong Indian side in an away one-day and Tests series.
With Australia struggling and West Indies shaky, England were confident that Pietersen's dynamism would help them go up the rankings.
Strauss fits the ECB image of the sombre, well-spoken England captain. Fortunately, Strauss also has the ability to lead, proven in his earlier stint as captain. And he is among the best batsmen in the country now.
There are still a few wishful lovers of cricket who hope that Pietersen gets the captaincy back in the future. There are many comeback stories in the annals of English cricket. Even Strauss has won a second chance.
English cricket could certainly do with the Pietersen dose of dynamism anytime anywhere.
