Newly-appointed director of England cricket Andrew Strauss raised a storm on his first day in office on Tuesday, when he confirmed controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen would not be considered for national selection this summer due to 'trust issues'.
However, a lack of 'trust' did not stop Strauss from reportedly offering Pietersen the role of an advisor to England's ODI team. The already dramatic events of the day therefore, took a controversial turn.
Former cricketers, opponents and teammates, found the development difficult to digest. They were bewildered by the fact that a man who could not be trusted enough to be 'reintegrated' into the Test side, could at the same be offered an important role in the ODI side.
It's worth mentioning here that the Test team is led by known KP-baiter Alastair Cook, while the ODI side is captained by Eoin Morgan, who had once spoken in favour of Pietersen, but only just.
Leading the slew of sharp criticism for Strauss' apparent double standards was former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. A close friend of Pietersen's, Warne found the South African-born batsman's continued omission hard to believe.
Pietersen and former England skipper Strauss were teammates for a long time but have also shared a disturbed history. The dynamic middle-order batsman was dropped for a Test against South Africa in 2012 after sending provocative texts about Strauss to the opposition.
Graeme Smith, who was then captain of South Africa, took the opportunity to hit out at Strauss on Tuesday. He was far less subtle than Warne.
Strauss was later forced to issue an apology in July 2014 after being caught on air making offensive remarks about Pietersen during a commentary stint with Sky. Trust, clearly, has always been an issue between the two former England batting stalwarts and it continues to be so, three years since that text scandal.
"The trust isn't there at the moment. I wish it wasn't the case but it is the case," Strauss said on Tuesday. "If there's a way to build trust let's look at it... this isn't about Kevin Pietersen, it is about the future of English cricket."
Former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara was also among Strauss' critics today and struggled to find logic with the decision.
Pietersen had scored 8,181 Test runs before being sacked by England after their 5-0 Ashes whitewash defeat early in 2014. Now he has almost zero chances of returning for the five-Test Ashes series in July, to be played at home.
Pietersen's close friend and noted TV personality Piers Morgan said the snub was "personal petty, vindictive, politics" and added that the swashbuckling middle-order batsman might even make a move to the West Indies or Australia
"I spoke to him briefly this morning, he believes he's been deeply misled," Morgan told the Mirror. "He did it because he was told, if he did it and he worked, he'd be back in the England team. "He feels misled, angry, frustrated and I don't know what he's going to do."
England cricket has been in a turmoil over a year now. After being hammered by Australia in the Ashes, England plunged lower in the ICC's ODI rankings. Weeks before the World Cup, Cook was sacked as skipper as Morgan took over. But a first round-exit after a defeat to Bangladesh did nothing to boost the morale of the team.
What they said about KP's snub:
Michael Vaughan, former England captain:
Andrew Flintoff, former England captain:
Ryan Harris, Australian pacer:
I know that Strauss and him (Pietersen) probably don't get on, [but] I'm not going to believe it until we get over there and they pick their squad. Although it has been said by the new cricket director, I'm not going to believe it until we play five Tests and Kevin Pietersen doesn't play.
Harsha Bhogle, cricket writer and commentator: