5 instances when relationships of team-mates got sour post retirement

A camaraderie between players is one of the essentials for building a great team. However, at the end of the day, a team consists of individuals who have their separate identities and may have diverse opinion on matters.Two players who are part of the same team may seem to share a good understanding of each other in their playing days. But there may be a few skeletons in the cupboard which mostly tend to come out when one or both the players have retired.There have been numerous occasions when relationships between team-mates turned sour post retirement. Here are 5 popular ones from the cricketing world.

#5 Kevin Pietersen - Andrew Strauss

Strauss closed the last door that would have allowed Pietersen’s return to the English team

One of the ugliest episodes of relationships between former team-mates turning sour in recent times comes from English cricket. It involves long-discarded batsman Kevin Pietersen and retired former England skipper Andrew Strauss.

Starting with being heroes in the epic 2005 Ashes series, the two former English cricketers were involved in a captaincy give-and-take until Strauss took over as full-time captain. Things started going out of hand, when in 2012, Pietersen was found guilty of sending provocative texts to South African cricketers, primarily about Strauss.

Strauss retired soon after and Pietersen was left out of the team post the 2013/14 Ashes.

In 2015, Strauss became England’s new director of cricket and divulged to the dashing batsman that he is no longer in the national team’s scheme of things, to which KP responded furiously and sent Strauss foul-mouthed texts.