England team will welcome Kevin Pietersen, says Stuart Broad

Kevin Pietersen will be welcomed back to the dressing room on his return to the side, said Twenty20 skipper Stuart Broad ahead of the India tour.

The controversial batsman was hurled out of the side following his ‘provocative’ text messages to the opposing players during South Africa series. England and Wales Cricket Board quickly reacted to the situation, and axed the aggressive batsman.

The South Africa-born batsman has publically apologised for his behaviour and as a result, the board has offered him a new four-year contract. The right-hander is likely to return to the setup for the upcoming India tour, and Broad has said that the side
has no issue with Pietersen’s comeback.

"The team has no issues with KP coming back whenever the management decides he is ready to. I’d have no problems playing with him," Broad told reporters here.

"Once the England management has decided when he’s available to return, he’ll be welcomed back into the changing room. I’m sure that if he came back for India or New Zealand, or whenever it is, that things will be fine within the team," the pacer added.

The right-arm fast bowler also uttered that he had not spoken to Pietersen since the Headingly Test, during which the controversy actually stirred up.

"We know he’s a great cricketer, he’s won a lot of trophies and has been a really good team-mate for England, certainly ever since I’ve been playing for them. We know that when KP’s focused on playing for England and he’s happy, he’s a really dangerous player."

Pietersen was expected to become a part of England’s squad for the T20 World Cup, although he had made himself for the ODIs. However, the country’s cricketing authority decided not to select the batsman for the mega event, despite his value in the format,
because of his bad behaviour.

When asked whether there would have been a different outcome, had Pietersen been in the team, Broad stated: "It’s hard to tell if the results would had been different had he been there. Obviously he’s a fantastic Twenty20 cricketer who did wonders for us
when we won the World Cup in 2010."

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Oct 11 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry