Jason Is A World Cup Winner: Kevin Pietersen Backs Jason Roy To Come Good

Kevin Pietersen, a former England captain, has urged supporters to give Jason Roy a break and believe that the struggling opener can turn things around. Additionally, according to Pietersen, the seasoned player belongs on England’s T20 World Cup roster. 

Roy, a white-ball player of first choice for England, had a difficult home summer. In six games, the right-handed batsman scored just 76 runs, with a high of 27, and failed to reach a half-century in an ODI. 

Kevin Pietersen Backs Jason Roy

Speaking on Sky Sports, Pietersen added that despite seeing the South African-born player perform admirably while playing under Eoin Morgan’s captaincy, it was disheartening to watch people write off the kid at such an early age. The 104-Test veteran believes that England must thus go back through The Hundred. 

Pietersen opined: “Jason is 32 years of age and what I’m sick and tired of in this country is writing people off at such a young age. Jason is a World Cup winner, he’s done an unbelievable job for Eoin Morgan.” 

He added: “With smacking the ball and being a risk-taker, you are going to fail and when you start failing, failing can happen for a long time. Leave Roy. Give him the opportunity through The Hundred and T20s and back him.” 

Jason Roy Likely To Retain His Place For Pakistan Series

Pietersen went on to suggest that if a new player fails to perform well in the T20 series in Pakistan, people would notice his absence 

“If Rob Key is listening, he is England’s best player and he has been England’s best player for a number of years. What they should be saying is ‘back your best players’. If they replace him and put a new guy in for seven T20s in Pakistan and he fails, people start saying ‘we need Roy for the World Cup,” he added.

In their debut game against the London Spirit for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred, the right-handed batter, who was playing for the team, was killed for a first-ball duck. On Sunday, the 32-year-old made a run-a-ball ten against Welsh Fire. 

The veteran will probably maintain his spot for the seven-game T20 series against Pakistan that begins on September 20th, despite his recent dip with the bat. England will be touring Pakistan for the first time since 2005 as Jos Buttler’s team gets ready for the T20 World Cup in Australia. 

Notably, the right-handed batsman had a lacklustre 2021 T20 World Cup, scoring 123 runs in five games with a strike rate of 138.20 and averaging 30.75. 

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