Former England captain and commentator, Kevin Pietersen, on Friday (January 21), said that it is "crazy and stupid" to blame the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Joe Root-led England cricket team’s humiliating 0-4 loss to Australia in the recently concluded Ashes series.
Recently, England cricket great David Gower said that Root had players who were "unavailable" because of the IPL, and Pietersen just laughed at the remarks, saying the poor system of county cricket should be blamed.
Pietersen said on the sideline of a Legends League Cricket match in Muscat: “It is stupid. You can't blame the IPL for the demise of Test cricket in England. It's crazy. I've commented on it quite a lot. It's the system; it's the county cricket system, which is poor. So there's no blame.”
He added, “It's crazy to blame the Indian Premier League because if you have a look at the Test team, there's only maybe (Ben) Stokes (Jonny) Bairstow and (Jos) Buttler who play the IPL. Hardly any of the Test team players play the IPL... So how can you blame the IPL? You can't blame the IPL. It's crazy.”
Recently, some Australian and England players were seen enjoying drinks together after the end of the Ashes series, but it caused controversy since the Hobart police had to stop the party.
However, Pietersen is in favor of allowing the players to have some light time, as the players are affected by the strict bio-bubble restrictions in this COVID-19 era.
He signed off by saying, “It's stressful. It's incredibly stressful. I've never played in a bubble. I can't imagine but I think it must be very lonely. You're not allowed to go to coffee shops. You're not allowed to go down to the restaurants, you're not allowed to do anything. And what else do you do? So I'm sure that the guys must have tried to find some sort of social activities in whichever way that they deem fit.”
(With PTI Inputs)
