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Kevin Pietersen took an indirect swipe at former teammate Nasser Hussain and other observers calling England's 2023 World Cup crash an "end of an era".
Sri Lanka beat England by eight wickets on Thursday. It was the defending champions' fourth loss from five matches and the third on the trot, which meant that their chances of reaching the semi-finals became almost negligible.
But Pietersen sent a message of apparent positivity through his social media.
"This England white ball team has given us many years of absolute joy and excitement," he wrote on X. "I’m seeing quite a bit of negativity and ‘end of era’ stuff. If it is, that’s life. Don’t start the blame game. You’re embarrassing if you do!"
In his column for The Daily Mail on Thursday, Hussain wrote that though England had the perfect squad before the tournament, it needs a complete overhaul now.
"It’s easy to be wise after the event and say ‘it’s an old side, we should have picked Phil Salt or Will Jacks or Ben Duckett.’ But I would not have swapped any of the players England brought here for anyone else. I wouldn’t have changed the side before this tournament but I would definitely be thinking about changing it now because it does feel like the end of an era," he said.
Hussain, a former captain, also said that he had never seen the current ODI setup play as badly in consecutive games as they had in the previous two.
"England’s form has deserted them at the worst possible time" - Nasser Hussain
Hussain further wrote about how the domestic set-up back home shouldn't be blamed for this debacle. Instead, he felt, the English players are just not in form.
"England’s form has deserted them at the worst possible time and compare that with, say, South Africa and India, whose batsmen all seem to be in great form, and someone like Glenn Maxwell who can hit a 40-ball century for Australia," he added.
England will now face hosts India, who are coming off five straight wins, in Lucknow on Sunday.
