Ashley Giles: ECB were right in sacking Kevin Pietersen despite loss against West Indies

Pietersen had played only one T20 international in the previous two years for England.

London: Mar 13, 2014

England‘s limited-overs coach Ashley Giles has insisted that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was right in sacking controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen despite the team’s Twenty20 series defeat by West Indies.

England’s top order failed in both T20 defeats in Barbados as the hosts won the series with a game to spare, prompting speculations whether the ECB was too hasty in sacking Pietersen.

However, the BBC reports that Giles backed ECB’s sacking of Pietersen, saying that it was not a mistake, adding that there is no point in going into the ICC World T20 talking about a player who is currently not in the team.

Giles further said that they need to now focus on the World T20, although he added that until England turns their performance around at the top of the order, this subject is going to keep coming up.

Pietersen, who was discarded by the ECB after the woeful Ashes tour, had played only one T20 international in the previous two years.

England’s five-wicket defeat on Tuesday was their fifth in succession in T20s, and came little more than a week before their first game in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, the report added

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