Pietersen happy to play the Bad Man

England’s blaster Kevin Pietersen says he doesn’t mind being booed over at the recent tour to South Africa. The guttural crowd jeered the batsman throughout most of the series but according to Pietersen, it makes him laugh to see the crowd go crazy like that.

Pietersen returned to the international field after a span of 4 months and though consistent tries, has yet to find his place amongst big scorers. He recently said, “Ponting gets abused in England; Smith gets it in England; I get it here - many players get it all over the world," while referring to Australian skipper Ricky Ponting and South African skipper Graeme Smith. He says he is unaffected by the reactions and welcomes what is thought to be reserved for the finest players.

The reactions from spectators come not for his performance but because many believe Pietersen betrayed his birth country, South Africa, to serve England as a member of the cricket team. But Pietersen has expressed no regrets for the same. He takes the booing to be an accolade, “I take it as a compliment. They don't want you out there playing; they want to try to get you off your guard. I seem to enjoy it. I hope everybody just respects the good cricket both teams play - and respects a good sportsman. That's all you can ask for."

Pietersen says it’ tough to regain what one looses after an injury-forced gap but in future hopes to score big and wants the jeers to continue till then, “It's tough when you come back after a long injury - mentally and physically. It's quite difficult and I'm finding it quite hard. But I'm doing everything that I can to try to get myself back to where I used to be."

Michael Vaughan, former English captain also shares Pietersen’s experience. Andrew Flintoff also lost many games due to injury. Pietersen has accepted he has a lot to learn from them on how to get back to the team, “You've just got to go out there and do the hard work - which will eventually pay off. I'm not shy of hard work - and I've been putting in some really, really long hours."

The weather was also of grave concern for the two teams. None of the teams was able to practice for the big event and also washed out 2 one day matches. It's obviously really frustrating with this weather. But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself to perform straightaway, because I know it's simply just not going to happen like that. I've got to wait and wait and wait - and hope it comes round soon," Pietersen said.

South Africa has recently been tossed off the world number 1 test rankings by India, making them in dire need to win more tests, while England is still trying to keep up with last year’s Ashes win. Both teams know how big this tour is going to be and we have to understand we're going to have to play really good cricket to win the series," Pietersen continued.