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Barbados: The IPL may be seen in most quarters as the main reason behind India's dismal show in the recent Twenty20 World Cup but maverick England batsman Kevin Pietersen credited the glitzy league for the stunning revival in his form.
Pietersen had a bad patch during England's tour of Africa and Bangladesh but the lanky South African-born batsmen regained his touch while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 3 and he was in sublime form in the T20 World Cup as he helped England win their first ICC tournament.
Crediting IPL for the revival in form, Pietersen said, "The work that I put in Bangladesh and India (during the Indian Premier League), there is no greater place to go learn your batting and work hard.
"I spent hours and hours in the nets in Bangalore and spent an hour and half at Nagpur in a game where I missed out," said the former England captain who scored 248 runs at an average of 62.
"I just worked really hard as I can because I was really disappointed in my winter and in the last 12 months.
"It's difficult for me to say how well I'm batting, I feel good and to contribute to this, there's no greater feeling. To do what we have done here in the past two weeks - priceless," Pietersen said after England thumped Australia to win the Twenty20 World Cup.
Pietersen's consistency with the bat earned him the Player-of-the-Tournament award and the batsman thanked his coach and teammates for helping him to put behind the bad patch.
"It's humbling. You've got to savour things like this. But if it wasn't for the help of all the dressing room in Bangladesh and the coaching staff and management, I probably wouldn't have been here - batting the way I did," said Pietersen who made a brief trip home for the birth of his first son before returning to play the semifinal.
The lanky batsman also paid rich tribute to captain Paul Collingwood.
"The nights and the dinners I had with Colly, reassuring me of how to play when you lose sight of how you should be playing coming back from the injury I had, really helped," Pietersen said.
