Pietersen, in one of several controversial claims in his recently-published autobiography, accused England's senior bowlers and wicketkeeper Matt Prior of aggressively demanding apologies from team-mates not in their clique for any mistakes they made while fielding.
Retired off-spinner Graeme Swann, one of the bowlers singled out by Pietersen, said Wednesday there was "absolutely no bullying" but Ponting, Australia's captain from 2004-11 supported the claims of England's all-time leading run-scorer.
"We saw them doing it, (James) Anderson was always the same, and Swann," Ponting told the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.
"The guys who were doing it were the so-called leaders. That's where the captain has got to come in, not wait and let little things turn into big things. That's what it sounds like has happened in this England team."
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Ponting was not involved in the two most recent Test series between the arch-rivals -- England's 2013 success and Australia's 2013/14 5-0 whitewash triumph on home spoil after which Pietersen was effectively sacked by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
- 'Implode pretty quickly' -
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"They had a lot of very good players that were able to achieve a lot of success as a team," Ponting said.
"But if you could just get inside of them and start pulling them apart, we always had a feeling they would implode pretty quickly and that's what's happened over the past 12 months."
Pietersen tweeted a link to Ponting's quotes on Twitter with the comment: "PLS READ THIS.