England limited-overs batting coach Graham Thorpe has expressed his belief that the team are capable of winning the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup even without Kevin Pietersen.
Pietersen was controversially axed from the international setup last month, leaving England without arguably their most dangerous player going into the Bangladesh showpiece.
England will also be without Joe Root for the entire competition after the batsman was found to have broken his thumb in eight places despite going on to score a century in an ODI win over the West Indies last week.
However, Thorpe believes that his side can surprise people in Bangladesh despite being eliminated in the group stages two years ago.
"The simple fact is [Pietersen's] not here, and he's not going to be here. We have what we have in the squad, and for me it's capable of surprising people in Bangladesh. But to do that, we must be bold," Thorpe is quoted as saying by PA.
"I would rather see us go down in Bangladesh having a real good go up front and attacking, so that's at the forefront of our minds. We actually want to win it, and that's what we'll have to do. At the Twenty20 World Cup, we have a puncher's chance if we get things right.
"If we can get through that group, we've done very, very well. Then we have a puncher's chance in the knockout stages. We will only do that by being bold and upbeat about our performances, and not getting too down when we do get beat."
England fell to a 27-run defeat at the hands of the West Indies in a T20 match yesterday.
