Alastair Cook ready to start things afresh with Kevin Pietersen after the difficult fallout in 2014

Alastair Cook who is the leading run-scorer for England in Test cricket with more than 12,000 runs is currently playing his last international game. He had already pronounced his intentions to retire international cricket after the fifth Test match against India. During his last interaction with the media before the Oval Test, Cook mentioned that his dealing with the whole controversy with regards to the departure of Kevin Pietersen in 2014 from England team was the biggest discomforting position he was in as the skipper.

However, he now hopes to put an end to all the past debacle and start things afresh with Pietersen for a better future relationship between the two former teammates. The 33-year-old mentioned that the entire fiasco of dropping Pietersen from the team in 2014 could have been handled in a different manner.

The biggest regret of his international career, was when he was captain of the England Test team and they suffered a massive defeat during the 2014 Ashes series. However, after playing his last international game in 2014, Pietersen was in exile and eventually decided to call it time on his international career on January 6, 2018.

I have not talked to him since that day

In a recent conversation with BBC’s Test Match Special, Cook stated that he never spoke with Pietersen since the incident in 2014. However, he also feels that the differences must have healed up a bit with the passage of time. The former English skipper also stated that social media comments and outrage also played a big role in the fallout as it soon blew out of proportion.

“I haven’t spoken to him since that day, but I think time is a great healer. We spent a lot of time together and created some amazing memories.The thing is, we never fell out. Since then, the internet has fallen out for us,” said Cook.

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