Kevin Pietersen has reignited his long-running feud with Alastair Cook after his ex-team-mate criticised England star Jacob Bethell's decision to remain in the Indian Premier League. Bethell, who was the silver lining in England's crushing 4-1 loss to Australia in the Ashes, has been unused by Royal Challengers Bengaluru after six matches.
Cook's criticism and Pietersen's response
Cook urged the 22-year-old to come home and play for Warwickshire in the County Championship instead of 'sitting on his a*** at the IPL not doing anything'. England begin their three-match series against New Zealand on June 4, just five days after this year's IPL final which RCB stand a good chance of making.
But Pietersen, who was banished from the England set-up in 2014 when Cook was captain, is of a different opinion. "Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it's like to be in the IPL," Pietersen wrote on X. "What it's like to always be around the best players in the world. So his opinion on Jacob Bethell doesn't matter at all. Stay in India, Jacob. I know, even though you're not playing, you're learning and will be a way better player."
Pietersen then wrote in a separate post: "If county cricket was as strong as it was in the late 90s and early 2000s, I'd also want Bethell back playing it now. But, it's NOT! It'll benefit England more by him being in India and he's already shown that."
Background of the feud
Pietersen infamously fell out with Cook over England's decision to drop him from the Test side. Two years prior, the South African-born batsman had been suspended for a match against his birth country after sending texts to the opposition criticising then-England captain Andrew Strauss.
Cook admitted in 2018 that he regretted the handling of Pietersen's axe. "It could have been handled differently," Cook said. "The moment Andrew Strauss came on board (as a selector) and said he was making the decision (to leave Pietersen out) was the best thing that could have happened for me. I do have regrets over it. The Sri Lankan series that year (which England lost) and Lord's (defeat in the first Test against India later that summer in 2014), that was the lowest I was. It was really tough but I didn't throw the towel in. I still thought I was the best man for the job and the right one to be captain at that time. But it wasn't easy. I could have taken the easy option but I didn't. And I got the reward - no, that sounds selfish, the team did - of winning the 2015 Ashes. That was brilliant."
Bethell's perspective
As for Bethell, he only played twice for RCB in last year's IPL and confessed that he came back to England for the summer 'undercooked'. Nevertheless, the 22-year-old is adamant that staying in India again is what's best for him.
"I firmly believe that this is the thing for me to be doing right now," Bethell told the Sky Cricket podcast. "I feel better now than I was a month ago after the World Cup, just from getting time around the guys over here and the pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL. Every nets session, you've got hundreds of eyes on you, be it your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you, going, 'Is this guy good? Is he not?' You've got the people in the crowd with their phones on. You get exposed to a lot of stuff."
