I once said schedule was horrendous and retired from ODIs, ECB banned me from T20s too: Kevin Pietersen

Ben Stokes shocked the cricketing fraternity by announcing his retirement from ODI cricket on July 18. He said it’s unsustainable to play in all three formats and said goodbye to fifty-over cricket. Many wondered about the reason behind his sudden decision to retire, including former cricketer Michael Vaughan, who criticized England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for players’ early retirement. Now another retired cricketer Kevin Pietersen has joined the Vaughan and blamed the English management for the same.

England’s red-ball skipper turned 31 last month and is in his prime, so it was a big shock for everyone. Pietersen, one of the best English batters with over 13000 runs in international cricket, had to end his career on a bitter note with ECB. He captained the English team in both ODI and Test format but resigned just six months after a dispute with ECB and then head coach Peter Moores.

His relationship with the board was always controversial. He announced retirement from all formats in 2012 but later reversed his decision. He finally retired in 2014 after getting dropped in the last match against Australia.

The ECB banned me from T20s too: Kevin Pietersen

Pietersen supported Stokes’ reason for being involved in too much cricket and said that he also couldn’t cope with the schedule and announced his retirement from ODI cricket. But also revealed that the ECB banned him from T20I cricket as well, suggesting that same could happen with Stokes.

Stokes is part of the ongoing ODI series against South Africa and is playing the last match at his home ground at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. But interestingly, he was not part of the T20I squad against South Africa, which was announced last week. Stokes also will not be playing the upcoming The Hundred tournament, stating a reason for workload management.

“I once said the schedule was horrendous and I couldn’t cope, so I retired from ODI cricket & the ECB banned me from T20s too,” Pietersen tweeted. Vaughan also balmed ECB for introducing too many franchise cricket, which is forcing players to retire from one format before age of 31.