The month long previews of #ausvsa and #indveng continues with a bit of breaking news: Kevin Pietersen is back in the squad for England.
What this means for England is unclear.
KP has played five tests for England in India.
Mohali in 2006: draw
Punjab in 2006: India win
Mumbai in 2006: England win
Chennai in 2008: India win*
Mohali in 2008: draw*
*KP was captain
That’s a winning percentage of 20% and a win or draw percentage of 80%: right in line with England’s long term performances in India over the last 80 years, as we learned yesterday.
Over those five matches, KP scored 365 runs. 144 of which came at Mohali in 2008.
His scores per inning look like this:
15, 87; 64, 4; 39, 7; 4, 1; 144, DNB
Respectable, but not earth shattering, and probably not game changing with the exception of the knock at Mohali.
KP does of course add a certain je nais se quois to the England line up, and whether that will be a positive je nais se quois or a negative je nais se quois is hard to tell at this point.
I can safely say however that he will make the entire series more entertaining for the neutrals.
*
Limited Overs 