Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook were never quite the best of friends while playing together for England and it was clear once more from KP’s tweet following the latter’s decision to step down as the captain of England Test team.
When the social media was busy congratulating the Essex batsman on his brilliant run as captain, Pietersen simply tweeted: #BringBackKP.
Cook was the captain when Pietersen was unceremoniously axed from the England squad in 2014 citing ‘massive trust issues’. Since then, Pietersen has been playing in Twenty20 cricket leagues all around the world but has failed to regain his spot in the England national side.
{{/usCountry}}Cook was the captain when Pietersen was unceremoniously axed from the England squad in 2014 citing ‘massive trust issues’. Since then, Pietersen has been playing in Twenty20 cricket leagues all around the world but has failed to regain his spot in the England national side.
{{/usCountry}}Pietersen was not the only one to take a shot at Cook as when the England Cricket’s Twitter page asked fans and followers what their “favourite memory” had been of Cook’s time as captain, controversial television personality Piers Morgan replied: “today”.
However, Cook believes that it is wrong to believe that it was his decision to axe Pietersen and he was left to “hang out to dry” by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) during the controversy.
“It was obviously a big part of my captaincy. I felt like it wasn’t handled particularly well by the ECB. I know I was the lightening rod for it. Every person thought it was my decision. I felt I bore the brunt of that, unfairly in my personal opinion. As much power you get as England captain, you don’t have the ultimate decision on that sort of thing,” he told Nasser Hussain in an interview for Sky.
“Yes, I was part of the decision making, as six or seven other people were. I didn’t actually have that final trigger and I felt as if I was the only person who made that decision. I felt a little bit let down by the ECB by that one period where they kind of left me out to dry a little bit.”
Cook decided to step down as England Test captain earlier this week after leading the team for almost five years. The 32-year-old was appointed in 2012 and he led his nation to Ashes victories in both 2013 and 2015. Alastair Cook was the longest serving captain of the England cricket team, but sadly, his legacy as captain will be affected to an extent by the Pietersen controversy.