West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has claimed that Kevin Pietersen should be allowed to play Twenty20 cricket for England despite retiring from one-day internationals.

Pietersen announced his decision to retire from limited overs cricket earlier this month but was reportedly keen to carry on playing Twenty20 internationals, an intention that was rejected by the ECB.

Gayle said: "KP is the best batsman in the team and the coach, captain, players and fans will really miss him.

"The Kevin Pietersen situation is really unfortunate. The England rules are that, once you don't play 50-over cricket, you can't play T20.

"If someone wants to retire from one, I don't see why he has to retire from the other. Kevin is a star player and he must know how much his body can take."

Gayle returned for the West Indies yesterday after over a year, scoring 34 in a 228-run victory over Middlesex in a warm up match for the upcoming one-day series with England.