Pietersen takes the positives from England's battle to reach the Super Eights in the latest edition of ICC Cricket World audio show
“It was good to put ourselves under pressure as it means we can cope with it” MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers also feature in this week’s show Programme available for free download and editorial use fromwww.icc-cricket.com
Kevin Pietersen is taking the positives from England’s battle to reach the Super Eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20 (ICC WT20) 2009.
Talking on this week’s ICC Cricket World audio show which is online at www.icc-cricket.com from today, the batsman reflected on an opening round loss to the Netherlands and victory over Pakistan when he said: “We’ve progressed through, which we should have done quite comfortably.
“We made it tough for ourselves but it was good to put ourselves under pressure the other day (against Pakistan). It means we can cope with it.”
The show can be used in whole or part by radio stations that want cricket content while the public can also download it straight from the ICC website.
In this week’s show listeners can also hear from India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the pressures of captaincy and the differences between leading India and Indian Premier League (IPL) side the Chennai Super Kings.
And South Africa batsman AB de Villiers provides an insight into the characters that make up the Proteas dressing room.
In his interview with the ICC Cricket World audio show Pietersen also talked about how one form player could decide the tournament, the management of the Achilles injury that sidelined him from the Netherlands match and how he thought Australia would be feeling about its own first round exit.
And he said the fact two of England’s Super Eights opponents, India and South Africa, are so well-fancied to lift the ICC WT20 trophy has a lot to do with many of their players being exposed to the format through the IPL.
“The more Twenty20 you play, the better you become at it and so it’s no surprise those two (India and South Africa) are pretty good teams.
“Unfortunately they are both in our group but we want to go out there and surprise a few people and do well for the English crowds that will be supporting us.”
The weekly show runs for 15 minutes and has been put together by the ICC’s global broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports.
The ICC World Twenty20 2009, which started on Friday 5 June, involves 12 of the top men’s teams and the top eight women’s line-ups playing at four venues – Lord’s, The Oval, Trent Bridge and Taunton – in the pinnacle of international cricketing action.
The defending men’s champion is India, which beat Pakistan in the final of the inaugural event, in South Africa in 2007. This is the first staging of the women’s tournament.
A limited number of tickets are still available for the ICC World Twenty20 2009. Further details can be found at:https://eticketing.co.uk/iccwt20