3 min readUpdated: Apr 23, 2026 06:15 PM IST
Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen barely struck a warm chord on the field. They are on different pages when it comes to the Indian Premier League too. While Cook wants rising star Jacob Bethell to return to the county circuit rather than serve drinks on the field with RCB.
“It’s not ideal, is it? Bethell shouldn’t really be it, because he’s not opening. He’s sitting on his a— at the IPL not doing anything. Ideally he could come back and open for Warwickshire to help England,” Cook said on Stick to Cricket podcast.
Pietersen didn’t buy it. “Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the IPL,” Pietersen wrote on social media. “What it’s like to always be around the best players in the world,” he added. Cook has never played in the league, while Pietersen featured for three teams.
He counted the benefits of IPL. “So his opinion on Jacob Bethell doesn’t matter at all. Stay in India, Jacob. I know, even though you’re not playing, you’re learning and will be a way better player.He [Bethell] learns mindset, training methods, coping with noise etc, etc. The list is endless.”
Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the IPL. What’s it’s like to always be around the best players in the world.
So his opinion on Jacob Bethell doesn’t matter at all.
Stay in India, Jacob. I know, even though you’re not playing, you’re learning and…— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) April 23, 2026
The swashbuckling batsman had a dig at the plunging standards of the county circuit too. “If county cricket was as strong as it was in the late 90s and early 2000s, I’d also want Bethell back playing it now. But, it’s NOT! It’ll benefit England more by him being in India and he’s already shown that.
Bethell himself spoke about the issue on Skysports podcast recently. “I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it,” he told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast. “The pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL is amazing, It’s something that not many people will understand how cool it is until actually being around a team or the tournament itself when you’re here. It just has a completely different feel. It feels like everyone almost ups their game subconsciously without even really knowing because of the calibre of the tournament,” he said.
“You might not get the amount of time in the middle as [you do] in the County Championship playing four rounds of that. But I think in terms of the ability to actually just continue doing what you want to do when there are loads of eyes on you, is really important for me going forward,” he added.
