England is banking a great deal on their batting star Kevin Pietersen in the Twenty20 World Cup but the man himself feels that the "fascinating" format is a "lottery" in which one cannot guarantee a victory.
"I think it is hit and miss big time," said Pietersen. "Any bloke can knock the stuffing out of any team; like Brendan Taylor did to Australia, and like Mohammad Ashraful did to the West Indies," he said.
"In 50-over games, there is a structure in place and you can bounce back. But here, it is a lottery. It is a fascinating game alright, but I am not too sure it is a game you can prepare yourself a 100 per cent for. Anything can happen," the South African-born batsman said.
Despite England's none too impressive start in this competition, Pietersen was optimistic about England going all the way.
"If we win the next four games, we win the tournament. It has been a pretty tough start for us, playing numbers one and two in the world in the space of a few days," he said.
Pietersen indicated that England did not get enough time to acclimatise to conditions before they took the field.
Pietersen indicated that England did not get enough time to acclimatise to conditions before they took the field.
"We came into this tournament straight off an aeroplane and two days later we played Zimbabwe and a day later we played the world champions."
"It's been a pretty tough start for us - in seven days we've played No 1 and 2 in the world and unfortunately been on the receiving end. Hopefully we'll hit our straps and come out and have to beat India to get a semi-final here in Durban."