Pietersen fails to attract predicted IPL record bid
ENGLAND cricket chiefs are seemingly not alone in turning their noses up at Kevin Pietersen. The controversial batsman fetched just £880,000 at yesterday’s Indian Premier League auction, way short of the £3m price that some on the subcontinent had predicted.
Delhi Daredevils agreed to re-sign Pietersen, who played for the team last year, and paid the third highest price of the opening day of the two-day auction. But the 33-year-old’s valuation lagged some way behind two of India’s biggest stars.
Royal Challengers Bangalore shelled out £1.4m on all-rounder Yuvraj Singh – just short of the record £1.45m paid for countryman Gautam Gambhir in 2011 – while Pietersen’s Delhi Daredevils paid £1.2m for wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Pietersen was the most expensive overseas player, however, ahead of Australian Ashes stars Mitchell Johnson and David Warner, and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis.
Delhi Daredevils had previously passed up the option to retain Pietersen for this year’s competition, which starts in April and lasts almost two months, due to his expected international commitments. But England chiefs’ decision last week to terminate Pietersen’s central contract alerted India’s big guns and prompted former IPL chief Lalit Modi to predict he could cost as much as £3m.
IPL’S MOST EXPENSIVE
Biggest buys of auction’s first day
■ £1.4m: Yuvraj Singh (India) to Royal Challengers Bangalore
■ £1.2m: Dinesh Karthik (India) to Delhi Daredevils
■ £880,000: Kevin Pietersen (England) to Delhi Daredevils
■ £640,000: Mitchell Johnson (Australia) to Kings XI Punjab