England head coach Andy Flower has expressed surprise at Kevin Pietersen's departure from the World Cup with a hernia injury only 48 hours after the team's medical staff had cleared him to play.
Pietersen is expected to undergo surgery next week to repair the hernia and will be out of action for at least six weeks. He wrote on Twitter on Monday that he was "absolutely devastated".
The England batsman complained of pain after the six-run victory over South Africa on Sunday, and said he could not continue playing.
"The medical advice was that this hernia problem Kevin's got wouldn't get significantly worse and he was at no risk of damaging himself further, therefore it was a pain management situation," said Flower.
"Kevin says it has got worse, pain-wise, and he can't carry on playing like this. So it was a pretty simple decision to replace him," The Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
"He's had this problem for weeks. We have been managing it for a number of weeks. The very clear medical advice was that he wasn't going to tear it or damage it permanently by playing on. After playing against South Africa, his feeling was it was too sore to play international cricket," Flower added.
Asked if he thought Pietersen could play through the pain, Flower replied: "I empathise with anyone with a serious injury. You never know exactly what they're feeling, so you've got to listen to what they're saying. Of course we're disappointed to lose him. He's a world-class player."
Pietersen has denied recent reports that he will retire from 50-over cricket at the end of this World Cup but this injury casts doubt on his future in this form of the game.
