Pietersen 'tired' of justifying IPL stints

Kevin Pietersen has said he is "sick and tired" of having to repeatedly defend his participation in the Indian Premier League.

Pietersen has spent the past three weeks with the Delhi Daredevils franchise in the lucrative IPL, a domestic Indian Twenty20 tournament where teams are run by wealthy businessmen who bid for some of the world's leading players in a pre-event 'auction'.

Pitches in India are far removed from the seaming surfaces often encountered early on in an English season and there are those who contend it would be better for England, if not the star batsman's bank balance, if South Africa-born Pietersen spent more time in March and April in his adopted homeland. Surrey's First Division County Championship match against Worcestershire at New Road, which started Wednesday, is Pietersen's lone first-class match before England face the West Indies in the first Test at Lord's next week.

But the 31-year-old, whose innings of 151 helped England claim their only Test win of a disappointing winter tour programme when they beat Sri Lanka in Colombo last month, insisted all was well with his preparation. London, Thursday