London, Sep 19: England players would need to perform well during their forthcoming tour to India in order to justify the management’s decision to exclude Kevin Pietersen from the squad, and a failure to do so would raise the hard hitting batsman’s value, according to sports journalist, Dean Wilson.
Wilson said the onus would be more on the senior players in the squad to win the Test series in India, and added conquering one of the sub continent’s best teams would be a feat comparable to winning the Ashes.
“England have taken a huge step into a brave new world with their Test squad for India and it is one that doesn''t include Kevin Pietersen,” Wilson wrote in his article for the Daily Mirror.
“The maverick batsmen is left out of the tour party as expected, with his ongoing issues still to be resolved, but it is the players who are going instead that make it a new era. Pietersen remains on the sidelines for now and may never play for England again, especially if this squad makes the right impressions without him,” Wilson added.
“But make no mistake, should Alastair Cook''s England squad go to India and triumph in a four Test series before Christmas it will be an achievement to rival the 2005 Ashes,” he wrote.
Wilson further added: “Without Pietersen England have lost a match-winner who would have been an asset in India – but at what cost?”
“It would have been an extra distraction that took away just as much as his runs added, yet the bare truth of sport cannot be ignored,” he also wrote.
“Winning is what counts and a happy dressing room that keeps losing will soon become a disenchanted one and the value of a Kevin Pietersen goes up,” he concluded.
© ANI
