Andrew Strauss opens up on mismanagement of Kevin Pietersen
Former England captain, Andrew Strauss recently opened up on the controversy surrounding the tensions between him and Kevin Pietersen which left a dent on England cricket during the 2012-13 season.
During South Africa's tour of England in 2012, it came to light that Pietersen had sent texts to South African players which involved derogatory statements about his teammates and then captain, Strauss.
The flamboyant right-hander was as a result dropped for the third Test match of the series but made a comeback under Alastair Cook during England's 2-1 series win in India. Pietersen made 338 runs from four matches in that series and played an imperative role in his side's win.
However, the tensions between Strauss and Pietersen did not die down which saw the ouster of the latter from the team.
In a chat with the Sky Sports podcast, Strauss shed light on how he did not spend too much time understanding Pietersen.
"I feel like I didn't do enough work with KP. There came a time where some of the people he was close with in the team, either retired or got dropped, there was an opportunity to not bring him in, but spend time with him and make sure his views were values or considered," Strauss said.
Strauss claimed that although Pietersen would not have been a straight fit into the 'engine room' of the team, the motive was to allow the right-hander to be himself and not give him a role he wasn't comfortable with.
The former opener also hinted on how the difference in ideologies in a short space of time might have brought the curtains down on Pietersen's career.
"At some stage, it felt like there were two separate agendas. There was a problem for me, for the team and for Andy Flower. We were all tired, we had spent so much time. But if we had time to think it out clearly, we could have managed it better," Strauss added.
Strauss's disappointment over Pietersen's participation in the IPL was well documented, and when the former was appointed as the Director of Cricket (DOC) in 2015, he ruled out the right-hander's return to the national side.
During the podcast, Strauss stressed on how he had 'sympathy' for Pietersen's desire to play in the IPL, considering the large amounts of money involved with his contract. The former England opener claimed that he placed Test cricket on a higher pedestal at all times and did not want Pietersen to steer away from his obligations to play the longest format.
Strauss also claimed that during his tenure as DOC, he wanted to explore the opportunity of forming a core of white ball specialists who could focus only on the shorter formats of the game.
"I wanted to see how we could shift the calendar to make sure more players played in the IPL. We wanted more white ball players to become white ball specialists. Someone like Jos Buttler particularly, he learned a lot while playing for the IPL," he said.