Kevin Pietersen Excluded From England Twenty20 World Cup Squad (POLL)

POLL: KP Omitted From T20 Squad, But Should He Have Been?

Kevin Pietersen has been left out of England's World Twenty20 squad, scuppering the batsman's hopes of a limited overs comeback.

Pietersen, who was dropped for the third Test defeat to South Africa at Lord's, retired from one-day formats in May with immediate effect but has since attempted to negotiate a route back into the squad.

Pietersen had already been omitted from the initial 30-man squad in July for this year's tournament, hosted in Sri Lanka.

However the controversy following his text messages sent to South African players last week, which allegedly involved advice to bowl round the wicket to England Test captain Andrew Strauss, has seen him ostracised from the international set-up.

The 31-year-old was man of the match after hitting 149 in the second Test at Headingley as England drew with the Proteas, yet was absent for the final Test defeat after he refused to disclose the content of the SMS' he sent.

England's defeat also ensured they had lost their number one Test ranking to South Africa following their 2-0 defeat to South Africa, although Pietersen's replacement, 23-year-old Jonny Bairstow, hit 95 in the first innings and a quick-fire 54 in the second.

Pietersen meanwhile was bowled for a golden duck by Liam Dawson playing for Surrey at former club Hampshire on Sunday as England toiled in the field against South Africa.

Stuart Broad, 26, will skipper England in Asia as they bid to retain the T20 they memorably won in the Caribbean against the West indies in 2010. Pietersen was named player of the tournament with an average of 62 in six innings.

The South African-born cricketer played 127 ODI matches for England, averaging 42, and featured in 36 Twenty20 internationals, averaging 38.

He made his ODI bow versus Zimbabwe at Harare in November 2004, with his last game coming against Pakistan at Dubai in February this year, where he hit a personal best 130.

ENGLAND ICC T20 SQUAD:

Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire) (captain), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Jade Dernbach (Surrey), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Michael Lumb, Nottinghamshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Luke Wright (Sussex)

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