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Kevin Pietersen: IPL 2017 auction another slap on Test cricket’s face

England's former batsman Kevin Pietersen is rather unhappy with the Monday auctions of Indian Premier League (IPL) citing it as "another slap in Test cricket's face."

 Kevin Pietersen played for RPS in IPL 9 © AFP (file photo)
Kevin Pietersen played for RPS in IPL 9 © AFP (file photo)

England’s former batsman, Kevin Pietersen is rather unhappy with the Monday auctions of Indian Premier League (IPL), citing is as “another slap in Test cricket’s face.” His criticism stems from the signing of England duo Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills being bought for INR 14.5 crores by Rising Pune Supergiants and 12 crores by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) respectively, with Stokes’ being the highest ever winning bid of an overseas player. Sanjiv Goenka’s interview reveals what went down between Dhoni and RPS management

Mills has played only T20Is for England and is now of the richest cricketers in the country.  “A T20 specialist becomes one of the current England team’s richest players,” said Pietersen.Pietersen has not played any international match since he was sacked by the England Cricket Board (ECB) in 2014. Since then, he has become a T20 specialist and played in competitions in Australia, India, South Africa, the West Indies and in the Pakistani T20 tournament held in the UAE. In 2009, along with teammate Andrew Flintoff, Pietersen was the highest paid player of the year.

“I embraced [T20] eight years ago and it’s what caused me my P45. I absolutely love how all these youngsters are now benefiting,” the 36-year-old said on his Twitter account.

He also went on to add that how he loves that the T20 is growing the game but is worried that the Tests are falling behind. He expressed his concern and hoped for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to work on this.

Meanwhile, Ben Stokes with his success of being the most expensive overseas player of the tournament, is overjoyed. “It’s a life-changing amount of money. I’m struggling to put it into words,” said Stokes. The auctions on Monday saw several franchises battling it out to place their bids on the English all rounder, which is what Stokes thinks was the best thing to happen. “I just wanted to get picked up and play. I haven’t been able to play in the past so that was the main thing, anything else was just a bonus. I’m looking forward to getting out there and getting involved,” he added.

Along with him, England players Chris Woakes, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy and Chris Jordan were also bought in the auction, while Jos Buttler and Sam Billings were retained by their franchises.

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