In the 2009 IPL Auction, English cricketer Kevin Pietersen and his national teammate Andrew Flintoff recorded the highest-ever IPL auction bid at that time. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has recently revealed that many England players were jealous to see Pietersen getting that high bid.
IPL 2009 was the second edition of the Indian Premier League. English cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff both were the star international cricketers in that period. Before the 2009 IPL auction, Pietersen had the record base price of US$1,350,000. In the auction, both Pietersen and Flintoff (base price US$ 950,000) were bought for US$ 1,550,000 by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) respectively.
Vaughan feels that many English players were jealous of Pietersen after observing his attractive IPL contract.
The former England captain told Fox Sports, “I think there was a lot of jealousy. And the players will completely deny it now but I think there was at the time when Kevin was on a massive contract.”
Later, Pietersen and then English captain Andrew Strauss’ relations became weaker due to their different beliefs on England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) disinterest to allow the England players for the IPL.
Vaughan added, “It wasn’t anything other than that Kev around that time wanted to go to the IPL. That’s how it all started to blow up and that’s when those factions came into play.”
Kevin Pietersen was saying to the team he wanted to play because it would further the development of the one-day team: Michael Vaughan
Pietersen defended his position to support the IPL to work for the development of the ODI side of the England cricket team.
Vaughan claimed, “He was saying to the team he wanted to play because it would further the development of the one-day team and all the one-day players would get the chance to play there and improve their game.”
On the other hand, many cricketers were feeling that Pietersen was focusing on the IPL only for attractive money.
Vaughan said, “They deemed that he just wanted to go for the money. He was on a big contract while not many of the other players were even getting sniffed at.
“It was very much Kevin against the team in terms of that one.”
In that IPL 2009, Pietersen led the RCB in six games before an injury ruled him out from the remainder of that tournament. After serving that team till the 2010 season, Pietersen played for Delhi Daredevils (2012-2014) and Rising Pune Supergiants (2016).
In IPL career, the right-handed batsman Pietersen scored 1001 runs in 36 matches with an average of 37.07. He hit one century and four half-centuries in IPL career. Also, the off-spinner got seven wickets in his IPL career.