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Focus on Windies and not on Pietersen: England coach Moores
London: England coach Peter Moores on Thursday said he is only focused on this month’s tour of the West Indies and not on sacked middle-order batsman Kevin Pietersen.
Incoming England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Colin Graves has spoken of a probable return for Pietersen in the national team. But Moores believes other players who are in the present squad are being neglected.
“My focus is to support (Test captain) Alastair Cook as I always would and the 16 players on this tour,” Moores was quoted as saying by bbc.com.
“The frustration for me is that people whose dreams are being made by going on this tour aren’t being mentioned.
“They are not getting any air time and it’s frustrating. We’ve got some very, very good players. That’s very exciting.”
Pietersen, who scored 8,181 runs at an average of 47.28 in 104 Tests, has re-signed for county side Surrey in a bid to earn an England recall.
The 34-year-old was sacked in February 2014 following the 0-5 Ashes whitewash in Australia.
Moores added: “I understand Kevin’s a huge subject, but I don’t think we can be drawn into that.”
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.