"good of English cricket" he lost the
England captaincy and coach Peter Moores
was sacked two years ago.
Pietersen says successors Andrew Strauss and
Andy Flower "need all the plaudits for an
unbelievable 18 months", including a double
Ashes win.
After England retained the Ashes, the batsman
said: "We would not be here today if I had not
done what I did.
"I got rid of the captaincy for the good of
English cricket."
Victory in the fourth Test in Melbourne saw
England retain the urn for the first time in 24
years, and a draw in the final Test in Sydney
would bring a series win in Australia for the
first time since 1987.
"There is no way in this world that we
would have succeeded under that
regime and won the Ashes again in
Australia after 24 years," said Pietersen.
"Strauss and Andy Flower need all the
plaudits for an unbelievable 18 months
and an unbelievable preparation for this
team, and they are the right leadership for this
team.
"They are just very good at keeping us level-
headed and grounded and solid.
"[Strauss] looks after himself after he has
looked after everyone else which is a great
quality of a great captain."
Asked if Strauss was a better captain than him,
Pietersen replied: "Who knows?
"All I can say is they have done an incredible
job, and I am so happy for both of them."
Pietersen was critical of Moores in a
report to the England and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB) after a tour of India in late
2008 and the ECB reacted by sacking
both captain and coach in early 2009,
offering the skipper's job to Strauss.
"He [Strauss] gave me the phone call and said:
'The ECB want me to captain; are you OK with
that?'," Pietersen recalled.
"I said 'Go for it, Straussy, you're a top man'. I
said 'I'm a good mate of yours, go for it, do
whatever you need to,' and I've been proved
right. It was a good decision by the ECB."
Pietersen was England's best batsmen on the
2006-07 tour of Australia but still shared the
ignominy of the 5-0 Ashes whitewash.
Having not scored a Test century for 18
months prior to this tour, he hit a career-best
227 and was named man of the match in
England's first victory of the series in Adelaide.
Pietersen has an average of 64.8 from his five
innings to date, England's third biggest
contributor (324 runs) behind Alastair Cook
(577 runs at an average of 115.4) and Jonathan
Trott (445 at 111.3).
"It's the best feeling in my career,
nothing beats this," added the 30-year-
old, who was also part of the side that
won the Ashes at home in 2005 and
2009, although his involvement in the
latter was curtailed by injury.
"As an Englishman, winning in England
in 2005 was amazing after it had not been
done for a certain amount of years, but people
always talked about the fact that when you go
to Australia it is a different kettle of fish and
the last time we came here we got hammered.
"This time we have come here knowing the
preparation has been right, knowing what to
expect from the crowds, from the public in
the street, people in hotels and taxi drivers to
players out in the middle.
"We were told to beware of this and we knew
what to expect. We always thought we would
do a lot better than last time, I was confident
of that and that has proved right."
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