Kevin Pietersen offers apology over dead ball escape
Pietersen underwent Achilles surgery a year ago and averaged just 24 on the subsequent tour of South Africa
Kevin Pietersen has admitted he was lucky to reach 80, and apologised for hitting a dead ball, as England dominated proceedings against Pakistan.
Pietersen, who was dropped three times during his innings, escaped dismissal after being caught by Salman Butt off a Mohammad Asif delivery.
He had stood aside as Asif released the ball after being distracted by Jonathan Trott at the non-striker's end.
But umpire Erasmus ruled against a dismissal, having called dead ball.
"The umpire shouted dead ball, but the ball sort of followed me," Pietersen explained.
"Instinctively, I played at it - I probably shouldn't have, and I apologise if I caused any issues out of it.
"They obviously appealed. But it was a dead ball call before - and if the shoe was on the other foot we would have got on with the game. I think everybody moved on pretty quickly."
Pietersen, who shared a 133-run stand with Trott, had been dropped after offering the simplest of catches to Umar Amin at gully - following two fortunate escapes on Friday.
"Obviously I rode my luck and on that wicket you're going to have to ride your luck," said Pietersen, who recorded his 20th Test half-century.
"It wasn't my most fluent of knocks. But in terms of the situation of the game, it was one I'm pretty pleased with."
The former England captain, who was finally dismissed in the evening session after spooning a catch back to bowler Saeed Ajmal, also admitted that he has found the transition back to the team difficult.
"You go from captaining the team to being one of the men again," he said. "Being told what to do all day every day is something that was hard, in the way that everything happened 18 months ago.
"Then I got injured and had a bad tour of South Africa - I was playing really badly there - so it's not been ideal, the last 18 months.
"Obviously I haven't been scoring the big hundreds I did in the first 50-odd Tests. But it's not as if I haven't been scoring runs.
"It's a case of getting back to the drawing board and keep working just as hard when things are tough - because just around the corner, there's a new knock."
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