Kevin Pietersen may not have been managed well in 2012: Ex-England skipper Andrew Strauss

Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss recently admitted that one of his biggest regrets will always be his fallout with his predecessor, Kevin Pietersen. The 2005 Ashes hero fell out of favour with England cricket's top authorities due to his willingness to feature in the IPL over the Test team. Kevin Pietersen was first left out from the team after he sent text messages to South African players about his teammates during the 2012 Test series in which he allegedly insulted Andrew Strauss as well prior to the final match of the home series at Lord's, which South Africa won eventually to clinch the series 2-0.

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Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss admits he could have managed the Kevin Pietersen situation better

Speaking to the Sky Sports Podcast, former captain Andrew Strauss admits that the Kevin Pietersen situation may not have been managed well. Pietersen was at crossroads with the board and the team management during the latter stages of Strauss' tenure as captain and the beginning of Alastair Cook's leadership. Strauss said that he didn't do enough work with Pietersen when a lot his former teammates had retired or were dropped. The former opener added that he just let the RCB star be himself and that might have sown the seeds for the conflict. Andrew Strauss added that while Kevin Pietersen wasn't exactly a team man, the England cricket dressing room could have been more accepting and make sure his views were valued and considered. 

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'Always had sympathy with Kevin Pietersen over the IPL': Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss also had disagreements on the IPL. Pietersen wanted to drop out of the Test team to feature in the IPL and while Strauss admits he had a great deal of sympathy for the 2005 Ashes hero, he could not let that happen. The former opener admits that his long term opinion was to have a window for IPL, but he thought it was quite dangerous for players to opt IPL over Test cricket. He thought if Kevin Pietersen opted for the IPL over Test cricket, it would send out a message that the T20 competition is far more important the traditional format of the game. It is to be noted that after he became the Director of England cricket following the team's disastrous 2015 World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Strauss created a special window for the IPL and that played a role in the side's almost overnight turnaround in limited overs cricket under Eoin Morgan's captaincy as England went on to lift the 2019 World Cup for the first time in its cricket history, that too on home soil.

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