Could KP inspire a shock England World T20 triumph?

I've been whispering it for a few weeks now, but I think England has a real chance of winning the World T20 in the Caribbean next month.

The nature of T20 means that on any given day every team could beat another - just look at the IPL table for evidence of that. But, even taking that into account England seem to be assembling a decent T20 side thanks in part to some brave decisions by the selectors, which sees Michael Lumb, Ravi Bopara, Michael Yardy and Craig Kieswetter in the England XV.

However, if England are to shock the world then they will need its talisman and best batsman Kevin Pietersen to fire. And he is certainly firing in the IPL at the moment. As I've said before Pietersen walks a fine line between confidence and arrogance when he is at the crease (some wouldn't just restrict it to the crease, either). Well at the moment he is at his cock strutting best and his form is red hot.

His 62 off only 29 balls against Rajasthan yesterday was nonchalance personified as he swatted Shane Warne's side like it was an irritating fly. He now averages 83.5 in this year's tournament with a strike rate of over 157.

If he carries this form into the World T20, if England's powerful batting fires alongside him and if James Anderson and Graeme Swann are at their best then England have a real chance.

You read it here first (well, probably!).

Comments

[greyblazer]

Great to see that KP is doing well. Isn't he the second highest highest run-getter in t/20 international behind McCullum? it makes you wonder whether kp is underrated as a T/20 batsman?

England have a decent team but needs both openers to fire and Lumb should stop getting run out lol.

[The Reverse Sweep]

Cheers for the comment greyblazer. I agree that KP is a great test, ODI and T20 batsman. Lumb is a good pick also but I would combine the different styles of Bopara and Kieswetter as openers. Bopara was doing well for KXIP before they dropped him down the order

[greyblazer]

IMHO I think Lumb can be given the first chance. His striking ability in IPL has been just amazing.The overs in the power play is very important and it would be good to have Kieswetter and Lumb opening the batting as they can take advantage of it.

[Shridhar Jaju]

I agree with greyblazer that Lumb should be given the first chance to open. In fact, if you look at numbers, then you will find that Lumb has the highest percentage of runs in boundaries of all the batsmen who have scored 100 or more runs in this IPL (77.7%). This just shows that Lumb can be devastating at the top.

However, I am sorry Reverse Sweep because I feel that England will do extremely well till the Super Eight Stage of the tournament and then lose in the semis. Somehow, I can never imagine the England team going all the way in an ICC tournament because apart from KP, there is no player that I find who has the cockiness that is required to win big. And one player is not enough in a tournament of such scale.

[The Reverse Sweep]

Shridhar you may be right about England's chances, but I can hope against hope!

[The Reverse Sweep]

I'm happy with either Lumb or Bopara to partner Kieswetter and am just glad that the selectors have not gone for Trott or Cook (neither suited to T20) or Wright (not good enough to open the batting)