A brave call to end KP's career: Cook

England captain Alastair Cook has given his backing for the “brave call” to end the international career of Kevin Pietersen.

But exactly why he was sent into seemingly permanent international exile remains a mystery, with ECB statements citing a need for team “rebuilding” and “trust” raising more questions than answers.

But left-handed opener Cook was in no doubt the correct decision had been taken even though in 2010 World Twenty20 winner Pietersen’s absence — and that of Cook, who doesn’t play in the format — the side bowed out of this year’s edition with an embarrassing dead-rubber defeat by the non-Test Netherlands in Bangladesh on Monday.

“It was a brave call which took guts and consideration,” said Cook. “You do have to say at some point, ‘This is the way we’re going to do it moving forward.’”

Cook hinted at the current problem on Tuesday by saying: “We all know how important team culture and team unity is. It was obviously a very big and important decision.”

Cook said he understood the annoyance of England fans, bemused at why a world-class player and the team’s leading run-scorer in Australia, was no longer part of the set-up but pleaded for patience and said the truth would emerge soon.

“I know things will become clearer in a little bit of time. I know it is frustrating. It is frustrating for me, because I have not totally been able to tell my side of the story. People just have to be a little bit patient.

“Everyone is going to keep asking that question until we give the answers — but at the moment we just can’t.”