Was it the right time for Pieterson's exit?

There seems to be no respite for the English Cricket team in the recent times. It is suffering from the worst phase in the past few days losing all important Ashes and that too in a crushing manner and then comes the row between the management and Kevin Pietersen as a result of which the most successful batsman for England in the recent times had to lose his place in the English side. There has been a huge uproar from the fans regarding this incident and there has been a demand for justification from the ECB.
Unarguably Pietersen has played a big role in the success of the English side. No one can forget the first Ashes series which he played and the flurry of boundaries despatching McGrath and Warne to the stands. The test series marked emergence of a player who was prepared to take on the best in the business. From then till now his career has been full of match winning performances. He led his team to their first ICC title in history. He averaged over 100 in the series against India in which England claimed the top spot in the ICC test rankings.
ECB in its statement has said that Pietersen has been sacked to support Alistair Cook to create a culture in which he has the confidence of all players. A Player should be chosen on merit and then it’s up to the captain to sort out any personality clashes and ensure there’s a degree of harmony in the team. That doesn’t mean everyone has to be in agreement with the captain; a bunch of yes men won’t help a team win. Doesn’t the sacking raise questions on the abilities of Cook as a captain?
England now face the potential prospect of finding new players to bat at No. 2 No. 3 and No. 4 in their Test team and will know that, every time they fail or Pietersen flourishes in whichever domestic league he finds himself at that time, the same questions will be asked: why not pick him?
Pietersen is not perfect. He can seem brash, he can seem arrogant, he can seem self-interested and the manner of his dismissals can be infuriating. But if you accept a player who can hit good bowlers out of the attack - it was his assault against a ferociously quick Shaun Tait that won England the final of the World Twenty20 in 2010, to name one of dozens of examples - then you accept that he will, at times, fall to catches at long-on or long leg. If you ask your players to play fearless cricket but then hammer them for failing, you will create the culture of fear and inhibition that choked England throughout their tour of Australia.
With two ICC events coming in the near future and the dwindling performances which England has given, clearly it was not the right time for Pieterson’s exit and the kind of player he is, his will be very big shoes for anyone to fill. England are looking at Eoin Morgan to do the job but it would be very difficult to switch “The man with the Switch Hit”.