Kevin Pietersen to feature in ICC World T20 as TV presenter – Cricket News Update
Out-of-favour England batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 this September following a serious spat with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), will be featuring in the mega event after all, but as one of the television presenters for ESPN STAR Sports.
Pietersen, no stranger to being at odds with the management, announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket earlier this year. His initial wish had been to retire from ODIs alone, owing to what he felt was an overly packed team schedule – however, ECB rules do not allow players to retire from one limited-overs format and continue in the other.
Player of the Tournament during England’s ICC World T20 victory in 2010, the right-hander expressed the hope that the selectors would make an exception, and consider him for the World T20 squad – an event he admitted he was interested in playing.
However, his relations with the board took a steep downward turn during England’s ongoing tour of South Africa. After having scored a massive century during the second Test match against the Proteas in Leeds, the 32-year-old called a press conference during which he claimed he was considering retirement from Test cricket as well, revealing that there were “obstacles” with the board and in the team dressing room which needed to be worked out before he could play for England again.
The situation was further fuelled by the discovery that Pietersen had sent derogatory text messages – supposedly targeting skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749, and was making himself available for selection for every format of the game again.
Despite his brilliant record, and the dents in confidence the team have received following their 0-2 drubbing at the hands of the visiting Proteas on home ground (which cost them their top Test team ranking), the selectors refused to entertain Pietersen. In addition to being ousted from the playing XI for the final Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, he was also noticeably absent from the 15-man squad announced for the World T20 this Tuesday.
However, shortly after the squad was announced, Pietersen was snapped up by ESPN STAR Sports (who own the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 tournaments’ broadcast rights) to form a part of their team of TV presenters. A statement by the company confirmed that the batsman would be featuring in the 'presentation and analysis team', in addition to helping with the publicity and promotion of the World T20’s broadcast.
Tags: