Kevin Pietersen puts aside personal differences to congratulate Alastair Cook on fairytale ending

Pietersen decided to forget the past and paid rich tribute to Alastair Cook after the opener played his last Test innings on Monday.

He was one of the best to have played the game for England, but former England skipper Kevin Pietersen’s journey on the international stage came to an abrupt end after the 2013-14 Ashes series. While then skipper Alastair Cook was said to have been uncomfortable with the swashbuckling batsman’s presence in the team, Pietersen decided to forget the past and paid rich tribute to the opener after he played his last innings on the international stage on Monday.

Pietersen took to Twitter and wrote: “Bloody hell! Cook 100! Script written! Fairytale ending! Richly deserved having had to face a brand new Duke’s ball for 12yrs! BRAVO 👏🏻”

 

This comes on the back of Cook confessing that the period of Pietersen’s sacking was the hardest for him as captain of the England team. “It was the toughest time of my career and there’s no doubt that it was affected my batting,” Cook had said.

“The day when Straussy (Andrew Strauss) came out and said Kevin wasn’t going to play for us anymore, that was a massive weight off my shoulders. I was involved in the decision at first, but the England captain doesn’t have the final say on hiring and firing. I agreed with it, but I said ‘why don’t we give him some time off, we can go away and maybe KP can come back later on’,” he added.

While the two have had their issues with neither making an effort to speak to each other after Pietersen’s unceremonious exit, the tweet clearly shows that KP was and will always remain a sport and does appreciate what his former captain did in English colours.