Petersen was not given a long rope in the ODIs, hence he could not prove his worth in the shorter form despite demonstrating that he could be a very important part of the South African middle order in times to come. He bats aggressively at the death, and when the chips are down, he can steadily build an innings too.
However, in February 2010, Petersen made his Test debut against in India at Kolkata and became the third South African to score a hundred on debut. The heady success was followed by big lows, he failed to score runs in the three Test series against West Indies, Pakistan and India before being dropped from the side.
