England Rest Kevin Pietersen for ODI Series even as India Wait for Injury Reports

Even as the Indian cricket team is awaiting the fitness reports on a couple of their players while missing a bunch of them in action for the forthcoming India England ODI series, England feel they can afford to toy with their team to the extent that they are resting Kevin Pietersen. But remember the last time KP was rested?

Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen had released a vitriol the last time he was handed a rest which he surely did not appreciate. However, it would appear England are in a happier position at the time and Kevin Pietersen may actually enjoy this break in what the England and Wales Cricket Board describe as a rotational policy to manage player workload.

While Pietersen is the beneficiary on this occasion and Andrew Strauss is not part of the ODI or Twenty20 squad, England will look to make a better attempt of redeeming themselves after their failed attempt at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. In fact one of the goals outlined by England coach Andy Flower immediately after England became the no.1 Test team following the 4-0 Test series win over India was to target the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. England have never won the World Cup although they have been in the final three times in the cricket world cup history.

Alastair Cook is England’s ODI captain while Stuart Broad is England’s Twenty20 captain and both will be relishing this second assignment since taking over the leadership role. That India are the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 winners will make England even more determined to score a point or two to undervalue that World Cup win as they have in taking over the no.1 Test team tag.

However, England are going to continue to keep the intensity up even if they have been handed a few lucky breaks in the form of the number of injuries that have reduced the Indian cricket team to a shadow of its best since the World Cup. Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh are part of a long line up of players who played the World Cup but are missing from the scene with injuries that have impeded their participation even during the Test series.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, is going to have work on his hands to ensure that India stay on top of their game.

For the moment these are the England squads that the Indian team will have to contend with:

England’s Twenty20 squad for India:

Stuart Broad (captain), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann

England’s ODI squad for India:

Alastair Cook (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

England have balanced experience with some exciting young talent such as Steven Finn while including Samit Patel as the second spinner. Ravi Bopara finds himself in the squad even as Jonathan Trott is expected to make a full recovery. With a sprinkling of new talent, England are leaving some room for experimentation. With four year plan, their first stop is the Indian cricket team even if the team is not at full strength