Don't Miss

India's CWG 2026 Medal Tally Lowest In 24 Years, Yet Among The Best

Tactical Self-Destruction: How England Threw Away Their World Cup Final Dream

Bundesliga Blueprint: How Zee Plans To Complete India's Football Jigsaw

Manuel Neuer Doesn't Know Where To Stop: Not On The Pitch, Not In His Career

Advertisement

ENG

Dark / Light mode

Oct 9,2026 11:00 AM IST

"Stupid" To Blame IPL For England's Ashes Debacle, Says Kevin Pietersen

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

Settings

Select Language

Dark / Light mode

Search

Cricket

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

India Matches

EPL

Sports Home Cricket News Stupid To Blame IPL For Englands Ashes Debacle Says Kevin Pietersen

Related Articles

Story ProgressBack to home

"Stupid" To Blame IPL For England's Ashes Debacle, Says Kevin Pietersen

Former captain and batting star Kevin Pietersen has said that it's "stupid" to blame the Indian Premier League for England's embarrassing 0-4 loss to Australia in the recently-concluded Ashes series.

Read Time: 2 min

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

reddit

E-mail

Australia thrashed England 4-0 in the recently-concluded Ashes series.© AFP

Former captain and batting star Kevin Pietersen has said that it's "stupid" to blame the Indian Premier League for England's embarrassing 0-4 loss to Australia in the recently-concluded Ashes series. England great David Gower was "annoyed" after their Ashes defeat and said current skipper Joe Root had players who were "unavailable" because of the IPL. Pietersen, an Ashes winner in 2005, 2009, 2010-11 and 2013, laughed at the remark. "It is stupid. You can't blame the IPL for the demise of Test cricket in England. It's crazy. I've commented on it quite a lot. It's the system, it's the county cricket system, which is poor. So there's no blame," Pietersen, who is representing World Giants in the Legends League Cricket here, said during an interaction in Muscat on Thursday.

"It's crazy to blame the Indian Premier League because if you have a look at the Test team, there's only maybe (Ben) Stokes (Jonny) Bairstow and (Jos) Buttler who play the IPL...

"Hardly any of the Test team players play the IPL... So how can you blame the IPL? You can't blame the IPL. It's crazy," a former captain of the IPL's Delhi franchise added.

Off-the-field, the English cricketers were also mired in a controversy after a report claimed that there was a "drinking culture" in the team with the players and coaches drinking late into the night before police broke up the session.

Pietersen said there was no harm in it as the players are affected by the strict bio-bubble restrictions.

"It's stressful. It's incredibly stressful. I've never played in a bubble. I can't imagine but I think it must be very lonely.

"You're not allowed to go to coffee shops. You're not allowed to go down to the restaurants, you're not allowed to do anything. And what else do you do? "So I'm sure that the guys must have tried to find some sort of social activities in whichever way that they deem fit," he said.

The 41-year-old had earlier urged radical changes in the red-ball format in England with a call to impose 'The Hundred' template on first-class games as he felt that the standard of County Championship has fallen down.

Asked whether he sees himself as a batting coach of the side one day, Pietersen said: "We'll see, we'll see. Maybe one day."

Featured Video Of The Day

Spain's Royal Family Welcomes World Cup Champions To Zarzuela Palace

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket The Ashes, 2021/22 England England Cricket Team Australia Australia Cricket Team Kevin Pietersen Kevin Pietersen

Get the Latest Cricket, Asian Games 2026, Football , Hockey, Badminton Scores, F1 Results at NDTV Sports. Like Us On Facebook Or Follow Us On Twitter For More Sports Updates. You Can Also Download The NDTV Cricket App For Android Or iOS.

Advertisement

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Advertisement

ICC Rankings

Advertisement

Now Trending

Advertisement

Trending Links

Follow us on:

facebook

twitter

Cricket

Football

More Sports

Formula 1 Tennis Hockey Badminton Golf Nba Kabaddi Shooting Swimming Table Tennis

This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics © Copyright NDTV Convergence Limited 2026. All rights reserved.