Sacked England batsman Kevin Pietersen might return to the squad after all, as incoming England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Colin Graves has refused to rule out a return for the South-Africa born cricketer.
Graves has claimed that England must be more aggressive in one-day cricket. He revealed that selectors and coaches would make any final decision on Pietersen. Graves said that the first thing Pietersen has got to do if he wants to get back is play county cricket. England had sacked Pietersen in 2014 and he was later released by Surrey.
Responding to Graves' comments, Pietersen said that he was pleasantly surprised and now needed to go away and make a few decisions. Pietersen has not played a competitive game in a longer format than Twenty20 since the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January 2014, his final game for England. Since then, the batsman has appeared in domestic T20 cricket for Delhi Daredevils, Surrey, St Lucia Zouks and Melbourne Stars.
Pietersen left Surrey last autumn and is currently without a county contract. Graves, who takes up his new ECB post in May for a five-year term, replacing Giles Clarke, claimed that he would not be involved in any final decision regarding Pietersen.
Graves said that it's down to the selectors, down to the coaches, of what they see, what is best for English cricket, adding that they would make the decisions and he would support them when it comes to that decision.
