Kevin Pietersen: Sir Alastair Cook has no idea what the IPL is like - 'Jacob Bethell should ignore him'

Kevin Pietersen reignited his long-running feud with Sir Alastair Cook over his former England teammate’s criticism of Jacob Bethell in the Indian Premier League.

Bethell has been unused by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Cook urged the youngster to return to Warwickshire to play county cricket rather than “sit on his pitch at the IPL and do nothing.”

Pietersen, who was banished from the England set-up when Cook was captain after the 2013-14 Ashes, argued that the former left-handed opener’s lack of IPL experience makes his judgment irrelevant.

“Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the IPL,” Pietersen wrote on X. “What it’s like to be around the best players in the world all the time.

“So his opinion about Jacob Bethell doesn’t matter at all. Stay in India, Jacob. I know even if you don’t play, you’ll learn and become a much better player.”

Pietersen later added in a separate X post: “If county cricket was as strong as it was in the late 90s and early 2000s, I’d also have Bethell back playing it now. But he’s NOT! It will benefit England more that he’s in India, and he’s already shown that.”

Bethell has had a breakthrough in the last few months to establish himself in England’s top order across all three formats after hundreds in the Ashes in Sydney and the T20 World Cup semi-final against India.

While he has sat on the sidelines for all of RCB’s first six games, Bethell, who earns around £250,000 on his deal, defended being in the IPL rather than at Edgbaston.

“I am convinced that this is what I must do right now,” Bethell told Sky Cricket podcast.

“I feel better now than I was a month ago after the World Cup, just from getting time around the guys over here and the sheer standard of cricket in India and the IPL.

“Every net session, you have hundreds of eyes on you, whether it’s your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you, saying, ‘Is this guy good? Isn’t he?’ You have people in the crowd with their phones on. You are exposed to a lot of things.’

Bethell’s 154 from number three in January at the end of England’s miserable tour of Australia means he should be in the XI for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand, starting on June 4 at Lord’s.

He has been linked with a move up to open, where he has batted in white-ball cricket, if England discard Zak Crawley, which could lead to the in-form James Rew being selected in the middle order.

Bethell admitted he would prefer to stay at first drop but would do what he is asked, highlighting that Joe Root was moved to opener to accommodate a returning Pietersen ahead of the 2013 Ashes.

“I’d love to stay at three if it’s up to me. I really like the position,” Bethell added. “I don’t think there’s a big difference between three and the top.

“Someone like Rooty had to start opening the batting and then sit back at number four. So if that’s what they want me to do, I’d be more than happy to do it.

“But I like three and I’d love to cement that place as mine if possible.”

Cook: Bethell can open in the test side

England opener Ben Duckett recently pulled out of a contract with Delhi Capitals to play for Nottinghamshire and secure his Test berth, but it seems a long shot that Bethell will seek an early exit.

RCB are well placed in the standings and an agreement is already in place with the England and Wales Cricket Board regarding player availability.

Cook feels Bethell showed Down Under that he could answer England’s problems at the opener, with Crawley looking to make way but worried about his lack of cricket.

“For the best batting, the way he played in Sydney, against that attack, in those conditions – I’ve looked at a player there and I’m sure this guy can open. If he can hit three, he can open,” Cook said. Stick to Cricket podcast.

“(But) it’s not ideal, is it? Bethell shouldn’t really be because he’s not opening. He’s sitting on his a*** at the IPL doing nothing. Ideally he could come back and open for Warwickshire to help England.”

But Bethell says even the non-match net sessions have pressure in India.

“You might not get the amount of time in the middle as [you do] in the County Championship play four rounds of it. But I think in terms of the ability to actually just keep doing what you want to do when there’s a lot of eyes on you is really important to me personally going forward.

“It’s also planned now that we’ve had training games when we’re not playing. I know it’s not going to be the same as an actual competitive game, but we get timeouts in the middle of it because it feels like the whole squad pulls together to try.

“They know it’s going to be a team effort, a squad effort to win the trophy again. And Coxsy (England international Jordan Cox) won’t be left to think only about what’s happening on the touchline either.

Bethell: I would love to stay at No.3

Bethell’s sublime unbeaten 142 at the Sydney Cricket Ground was one of the few highlights of England’s 4-1 Ashes defeat over the winter.

Hailed as “the future of England cricket” by Cook after his performance in Sydney, which was only his sixth Test, there has been talk of Bethell moving up to open the batting, which would also make room for Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman Rew to come into the team.

Bethell says his performances for England are what he “pretty much believed in”, despite question marks that he did not hit a century in professional cricket before his Sydney heroics.

“Obviously there was a lot of talk about it no first-class hundred or whatever, but I never paid that much attention.

“I felt I’ve always played better against better opposition and I guess it’s a bit of the way I like playing against big teams and taking on good bowlers.

“You can look at the three hundred (his first in both ODI and T20 internationals) and say, ‘it’s been great’. But there have been some lean patches in there as well.

“I didn’t have the best English summer last year and then topped it with a hundred and then some low scores in New Zealand before the Ashes were actually a bit out of touch in that series.

“You can look at it from the outside and say it’s all going smoothly, but it’s been nice to actually go up and down and actually just learn to deal with it by spending a year on the road pretty much.

“It’s been great to have these one-of-a-kind moments, but all it does is make me hungry for more.”

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