Devastated Pietersen out of World Cup, IPL

CHENNAI, India, Mar 7 (AFP): England star Kevin Pietersen said he was "absolutely devastated" that his long-standing hernia problem had ended his World Cup and shattered his lucrative Indian Premier League plans. "Sad to leave India.. Love the people & the hospitality. Alvida doston (Goodbye friends)," he wrote on his Twitter account on Monday. "I fly home tonight. Out of the WC & IPL.. Absolutely devastated." An England team spokesman said the 30-year-old will head home to undergo a hernia operation which the star batsman had hoped to postpone until after the World Cup. Eoin Morgan will be requested as a replacement player. England coach Andy Flower later said he had hoped Pietersen could "bite the bullet" but that the player had said the pain was "too debilitating". Team officials confirmed on Saturday that Pietersen would undergo an operation, but only after the tournament. However, the procedure has been brought forward after he was clearly troubled during England's Group B win over his native South Africa in Chennai on Sunday. Pietersen, moved up the order to open during the World Cup, made just two off three balls. He looked more of a threat with his part-time off-spin than with the bat in a tense six-run victory that reignited England's bid for a quarter-final spot and it is now 27 matches since he last scored a one-day international hundred. "The medical advice was that he could get through the tournament," Flower told the BBC on Monday. "The hernia problem that he had would not get significantly worse and he wasn't going to tear anything so we hoped that he would get through the tournament ok, take pain killers when needed and bite the bullet. "Unfortunately he says that the pain is too debilitating and he can't go on like that, so it's a pretty simple decision in replacing him."