RP Singh vs Pietersen

In the 7th ODI against England, RP Singh’s stats looked ordinary. He went for 44 runs from seven overs with no wickets to show for his effort. However, there was some wonderful bowling there where he kept Pietersen on a leash during the powerplay overs. We saw how Pietersen dug into VRV Singh eventually, taking 37 off his two powerplay overs. Well, that’s what he was trying to do to RP Singh, but RP bowled wonderfully well. Here’s the textual commentary from Cricinfo.

Rudra Pratap Singh replaces Irfan Pathan
12.1 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, drives it to off side
12.2 RP Singh to Pietersen, one run, driven wide of mid-off fielder and
quick single taken
12.3 RP Singh to Bell, no run
12.4 RP Singh to Bell, no run, defended to cover
12.5 RP Singh to Bell, no run, fuller on the legs, drives the ball to
mid-on
12.6 RP Singh to Bell, FOUR, Oh dear! good length delivery and angling
across, Bell drives it and got thick outside edge, ball flies wide
of diving Karthik behind the wickets, no slip was placed

End of over 13 (5 runs) England 52/2 (RR: 4.00)
RP Singh 1-0-5-0

14.1 RP Singh to Pietersen, one run, played to cover and quick single
taken
14.2 RP Singh to Bell, no run, beaten outside the off stump
14.3 RP Singh to Bell, one run, pitched outside the off stump, batsman
uses the angle and steer the ball to third man
14.4 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, length delivery, Pieterson comes
down the track and drives it straight to mid-off
14.5 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, down the leg side, played to square
leg, no chance for run there
14.6 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, pitched outside the leg stump,
turned away to square leg

End of over 15 (2 runs) England 59/2 (RR: 3.93)
RP Singh 2-0-7-0

16.1 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, turned away to on side
16.2 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, pitched up delivery on the leg
stump, driven straight to mid-on
16.3 RP Singh to Pietersen, no run, pitched on middle and leg stump,
Pieterson walking down the wicket and tries to work it away to
onside, ball crashes into the pads, loud appeal, turned down
16.4 RP Singh to Pietersen, one run, drifting down the leg, flicks it
away to fine leg
16.5 RP Singh to Bell, no run, good length delivery outside the off
stump, defended to backward point
16.6 RP Singh to Bell, no run, good ball on the stump, defended back

End of over 17 (1 run) England 71/2 (RR: 4.18)
RP Singh 3-0-8-0

Pietersen did hit three boundaries off of Singh’s next over, but one of those was an edge (inaccurately described as an intentional steer in the Cricinfo log). I’d like to see some more of RP Singh, but I don’t know why he is not getting more chances.