Pietersen’s not scared of ringing the changes for England

Pietersen, in his short reign as captain, has always wanted to name a side on the eve of the match so players can mentally prepare themselves for the task ahead.

But today he broke that habit, saying he would name his final XI until just before the toss tomorrow morning.

"We are not 100 per cent decided on it," said Pietersen. "There are a few things. There are guys who have come on this trip who are raring to go and wanting to play so it's about making a decision on the best team to play positive cricket and win a Test match.

"I'm looking at the whole thing at the moment."
While England have generally been ultra loyal to their players, they showed on one occasion earlier this year that no one was above being dropped.

Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, two of the 2005 Ashes heroes, were dumped in Wellington nine months ago for a Test against New Zealand which had to be won.

That decision worked and something similar could happen here with No3 batsman Ian Bell, senior spinner Monty Panesar and pacemen Harmison and James Anderson under pressure to keep their places.

Waiting in the wings are Owais Shah, Stuart Broad, Amjad Khan and even young leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who was brought on this trip to gain experience but has never been ruled out of the equation by Pietersen.

The final decision will be made by the skipper and on-site selectors Peter Moores and Ashley Giles.

One factor clouding the issue is the state of the pitch which is bone dry at both ends — thereby sure to help spinners — but grassy in the middle.
On top of that, reverse swing — which England struggled to find when losing the First Test in Chennai by six wickets — ought to come into the equation here.

"We have to find a way to reverse swing it," said Pietersen, a comment which could count heavily in favour of uncapped paceman Khan.

The Kent bowler, who was added to the squad when Ryan Sidebottom withdrew with a side injury, has a big reputation for gaining reverse swing on the county circuit.

Khan for Harmison would be a surprise. But an even bigger shaker would be the absence of Panesar from England's line-up in the morning.

Although he failed to capture a single wicket in the second innings at Chennai and struggled for rhythm, the left-armer ought to benefit from having bowled a lot of overs. Assuming he is not now squeezed out.

"I think it is just down to match practice," said Pietersen when asked about Panesar's lack of success in Chennai. "He's got good stats and it was probably just a game he missed out on."

Whatever side Pietersen leads out, he is convinced England can square the series by playing the same brand of cricket that put them in a winning position last weekend.

Although their failure to capture more than three wickets on the final day in Chennai proved decisive, Pietersen's men could have placed the First Test out of India' reach by scoring more runs when they were on top.

Instead, the last 26 overs of England's second innings added only 67 to the total, even though they began that passage of play with seven wickets in hand and two century-makers — Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood — at the crease. And an inability to move through the gears, rather than just make slow progress, on tricky pitches is not a new problem for this team.

Pietersen, though, seems determined to stick to Plan A tomorrow, believing it can give his side another sight of victory in the final Test. "We've got to try to win the game and get the victory," said the captain.

"That's our sole purpose now. I think the boys played brilliantly last week, they played great Test cricket.

"We just unfortunately got pipped on the last day. I don't see a reason to change too much. We played fantastically well and if a few things had gone our way on the final day we would have won that Test and been 1-0 up.

"If we play like we did in Chennai and keep holding on and holding on, it's real good."
It should have been India hanging on last week.

Instead, England were well and truly beaten by six wickets. That makes it three times this year — against South Africa at both Lord's and Edgbaston, then the Chennai game — that they have been thwarted in the final innings of a Test when many people expected them to win. Pietersen seems unperturbed, however.

"I think it is something we need to look at but the guys have tried their hearts out," he said. "Unfortunately Graeme Smith played a sensational knock at Edgbaston, Lord's was just one of the flattest pitches and then Tendulkar played his knock on Monday.

"Yes it's heartbreaking to lose and I hate losing. Yes, it was disheartening. But the boys are raring to go again now and training with a real purpose. We want to level this series and we want to try to end it on a positive note.

"Everyone probably wrote us off before we came out here but the boys have been very special in terms of the way they all jumped on the plane and how much they are really putting in."