Kevin Pietersen best player I have played with: Andrew Strauss

Kevin Pietersen (L) and Andrew Strauss

 

Former England captain and opening batsman, Andrew Strauss praised his teammate Kevin Pietersen in the latest edition of Lord’s podcast. Strauss said that, “Pietersen always stood by me when I was a captain, and I needed someone to rely on and that was him.”

"In terms of being able to do things that other cricketers couldn’t, in the England side while I was involved he was the one guy that stood out for me," he said.

The 38-year-old also said that English cricket has to move on from the Pietersen issue, if not, it may severely damage English cricket and its players.

"That (Pietersen issue) threatens to envelop everything at the moment. The story has become more of a distraction than actually him playing or not, it's become that big,” he added.

"The ECB and England team’s efforts to move on from him haven’t worked so far, [but] by winning, that will allow them to move forward."
However, the former left-handed opener thinks that even if Pietersen comes back, it will be for a short period and even that seems like a difficult call because there are many hurdles to cross.

Strauss said, "I think if you were to bring Kevin Pietersen back it would be a short-term measure to help you win the Ashes but I can’t see that happening personally because there are too many bridges to build in too short a period of time.”

Pietersen retired from One-Day International cricket in 2012 but soon retracted his decision. That led to a chain of controversies and soon he was dropped from the England T20 squad just before the World T20 Championship. Later he came into spotlight of another controversy, when he allegedly sent derogatory text messages about the then captain, Andrew Strauss to the South African players during their tour of England. He was dropped from the final test at Lord's.

England’s leading run scorer (all formats combined) Kevin Pietersen, will be playing for the Surrey cricket team in the upcoming county championships. This may well be his last chance to make it to the English National Team again and be a part of the Squad for the upcoming Ashes. Else, his chances of making a comeback to the team may seem very bleak.