'Sacked' Pietersen denies reports of 'rift with English teammates'

Sacked England batsman Kevin Pietersen has denied reports that he had a bad relationship with his teammates and insisted that he was the first to help Jonathan Trott during his stress-related illness.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) axed the team's leading run-scorer across all formats following their 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia, and it had been suggested that Pietersen's deteriorating relationship with his teammates was behind the decision.

However, Sports24 reports that Pietersen said contrary to popular reports, he has a very good relationship with most of the players in the England dressing room, adding that if any of them was struggling, he liked to 'go up and put an arm around the player'.

Pietersen also claimed that he was the first to notice that Trott was struggling to handle the pressure which forced him to return home from Australia after the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, adding that he told Trott that he needed to calm down and that he was putting too much pressure on himself.