Alastair Cook, England's former captain, has responded to teammate Kevin Pietersen's comments over his statement on youngster Jacob Bethell's position on the IPL 2026. The former England captain advised Bethell to cut short his participation in the league and return to play County cricket if he was not playing sufficient matches. His comments irked Pietersen who insisted Cook had "zero understanding" of the IPL and the situation at hand. The latter now has a detailed clarification of what he said. At the Stick to Cricket podcast, he said: “I just gave my opinion. I can justify that at the time he wasn’t playing, and he didn’t play (much) last year either. So, he had that benefit of doing once or twice. In my opinion, he has done a bit of that. Ironically, since all that came out, he has now played a bit." Cook Responds to Pietersen's Comments Cook expressed understanding of both stances taken with regard to young cricketers and their preference between the IPL and county cricket. Cook further elaborated that although Bethell had played a few matches since the argument, game time would always be an integral part of player development. Cook added: "I get the other argument of learning but there’s got to be a stage where you have to play. You can’t just learn from them. I know the IPL is a great tournament, but no one is ever publicly going to say that IPL is not the place to be." In addition, Cook spoke about the way players feel about the IPL behind the scenes and to the world at large; he pointed out that whilst the players appreciated the IPL, their professional commitments precluded them from criticizing it publically. He added: "I actually understand both arguments like he has signed the contract, (so) I’m going to honour my contract. Now, I don’t know what the IPL is like quite clearly, but you hear some of the little undercurrents like it’s not quite as good as everyone thinks it is. I’m not slagging off the IPL – no one ever is going to say it’s terrible because they don’t want to upset their bosses because they want another contract. I actually feel two opinions can be right." Also Read | Star India Batter Leaves MI Camp, Likely to Miss RCB Clash After Hardik Pandya Blow Bethell Gets a Chance, Cox Still Waiting Since the conversation, Bethell has participated in three games for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He had the chance when Phil Salt injured his finger, which saw him replace someone at the top of the order with Virat Kohli. Bethell, who scored a T20 WC 2026 SF hundred at Wankhede, has scored 39 runs in three innings thus far in the IPL. At the other end of the spectrum is Jordan Cox, who has not been given a chance yet this season. The Englishman was bought for the base price of 75 Lakhs but is yet to make his debut in this season of the competition. The debate aboutIPL presence and players' growth continues as various former players have contrasting opinions.