What comforts await KP in India?
After their Stanford debacle, England face some serious challenges during their tour of India, writes Vic Marks in the Observer
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
After their Stanford debacle, England face some serious challenges during their tour of India, writes Vic Marks in the Observer. They are up against a strong Indian batting line-up that has been particularly harsh on overseas spinners, and the captain-coach relationship between Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores is still far from ideal.
Since his appointment Pietersen has not shied away from being the main man. So how influential is Moores now? He did not appear to be proactive in Antigua, merely recognising afterwards that there were lessons to be learnt. How well does he dovetail with his captain? There is no evidence yet that he is capable of building a truly fertile relationship in the way that Duncan Fletcher did with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan. That captain/coach relationship is crucial. Pietersen cannot do everything.
In the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James says England still have much to prove in one-day cricket, especially away from home and they must be wary of more big-money issues in India.
Kevin Pietersen's single-handed renaissance of England's one-day cricket at the end of last summer is already a distant memory. Now a chap called Distraction appears in England's line-up. He is a man of money. And he will be in India.
The Indian Premier League was at the core of the ill-conceived Stanford decision, despite what the ECB will have you believe, and, although chief executive David Collier is off to India to negotiate with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, it is the reason why the players have signed only tour contracts and not yet committed to their full central contracts.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo