Stuart Broad reckons England must find Pietersen’s replacement for T20

London: England T20 captain Stuart Broad has insisted his Three Lions cricket team must find a replacement for star player Kevin Pietersen, ahead of the World T20 cricket tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

“There is obviously an opportunity there for ­someone to put their hand up to be the king pin of our batting line-up. KP scored consistent runs for us at No.3 and opening the batting in 20-20 cricket. Now, he is not there, someone has got to do that,” Broad was quoted as saying. Broad, however, remained confident that England’s young Lions can retain their Twenty20 world crown and is banking on Eoin Morgan and several young players, such as Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow to rise to the challenge of filling the void left by England’s most destructive hitter. “He obviously was a really good player and did some fantastic things. It does not seem to have affected the one-day team a massive amount,” said Broad. “We can take heart from that. It opens up opportunities for people to put their hand up, like Ian Bell did scoring a hundred and winning man of the match on his first game back. I think that is a sign of good character in the team, when people get the opportunity to get in the team they take them,” he added. ANI