Kevin Pietersen, former England captain, has showered praise on his former teammate Andrew Strauss over the latter’s role as the Director of Cricket in England Cricket Board (ECB) saying the team has progressed in the Test format since he has taken charge.
“He’s actually doing a very good job for England,” KP said.
“He’s stuck to his principles and he’s not deviated. And England have done OK; they’ve won against Australia, they’ve beaten South Africa in South Africa and they’ve got a huge series right now against India.
“I think he’s done an OK job. He’s a current player and I like that about ‘Straussy’. He’s played over 100 Test matches and so he gets the modern-day thinking.”
Andrew Strauss was named as the England’s Director of Cricket in May 2015, which quickly saw him putting an end to Pietersen’s career, after both the pioneers of the English cricket were involved in the texting scandal during England’s tour of South Africa in 2012.
The after effects of the scandal saw their relationship getting tarnished with KP making his way out of the side on ‘trust’ issues, as mentioned by Strauss earlier.
“I’m thumbs up with Straussy. We’ve had our issues but everyone has issues with certain people. It doesn’t bother me now. I live with a smile on my face all day, every day,” he added.
Despite this, the right-handed batsman admitted he has moved on and says credit should go to Strauss for England’s success in the past year or so.
“He doesn’t really get the shorter formats of the game because he hasn’t played too much of that, but he does get the modern-day way, which I think is really good for a position like that,” Pietersen concluded.