The Ashes 2013: Talksport interview may put Kevin Pietersen off-side with the ECB on the day of his return A rehabilitation of sorts has occurred but it is only superficial. Deep down, you get the sense Pietersen does just enough to satisfy team protocols, but does just as he wants the rest of the time. If his tweet is accurate, he will talk to Gough on Friday night about the Ashes, the Indian Premier League and his injury break, which forcedhim take three months off to recover from a bruised knee. Before he reacquaints himself with international cricket in the second of England's T20 matches against New Zealand, he has to satisfy everyone he can physically cope with Surrey's four-day game against Yorkshire at Headingley. "We thought it would be good to get some international exposure, just get back into the international swing of things and to just get a lot of the nonsense out in the air - that I'm back playing blah, blah, blah," Pietersen tells Gough. It's a perfect opportunity at the Oval, it'll be the second game on the Thursday and it'll just be nice to get back out there and whack a few balls [if I whack a few] and run around on the field, just get that buzz again, so I'm very happy. Before that he will make a rare appearance for his county as well as one alongside Ricky Ponting, an Ashes foe from the recent past. I'm just going up to Yorkshire to get through these four days. The professional in me will want to score as many runs as possible, but the most important thing is to wake up each morning and know there is no issue with my knee and to know I've turned a big corner and can handle a day in the field. That's the only thing that's not been tested. I can bat in the nets and I've done all the fielding drills you can do, but it's not the same as being in the field for 90 overs. He damaged his knee during fielding drills in Queenstown last February, an injury he attempted to play through for two Tests before withdrawing from the third to return home. As a result the ECB then withdrew him from the IPL, though it turned out he had taken out insurance on part of his $2million (£1.3 million) fee from the Delhi Daredevils. It's been extremely frustrating. No cricketer likes to miss cricket through injury. It's one of those breaks that you have and it's just a frustrating time because you have the break, but it's not a break because you're rehabbing, you're in a brace, you just can't get up to much. You'll go away to try and get out the country and get some sunshine and you'll be there on holiday but you can't move. We were in Dubai and my son, Dylan, wanted to swim and run around and I just couldn't do anything, so it was frustrating. It was great to have family time, but it's not the same as being off uninjured. As has no doubt become plain, it is hard being Kevin Pietersen.