Pietersen backs his ‘winners’ to come good in crunch game

The winter sun in Mohali has put the smile back on English skipper Kevin Pietersen’s face, but a few headaches remain. The visitors have found the cold conditions here to their liking, and feel that their pacers could come to the party. But in order to get fit-again Stuart Broad into the XI as the fourth seamer, the skipper is confused over which spinner should be dropped.

Much was expected of Monty Panesar, but his performance in Chennai left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, while off-spinner Graeme Swann did trouble a few Indian batsmen on debut, he doesn’t have experience on his side. “There are a few things we are thinking about. Panesar has been out of practice but we he got a good workout in Mohali. He has the experience, which I think is valuable in these conditions.”

Even though the team failed to defend 387 on the last day, Pietersen wants to draw positives from that game, “What it does do is make you try for the next fixture. This team is full of winners and they hate losing as much as anyone else. You can let it get you down, but to get as close as we did was fantastic. We just want to win.”

Rather than blame his own bowlers for the defeat, Pietersen thought it was the Indian batting that won the Test. “Both the Indian openers did a good job. With the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and then Yuvraj Singh at No 6 and M S Dhoni at No 7 to follow, it is a tough task getting the Indian batsmen out,” he said.