Kevin Pietersen in the money after England axe as he lands huge Delhi deal

Seven weeks in IPL will net him £880,000
12 February 2014

Kevin Pietersen stands to earn nearly £1million for less than two months’ work after rejoining the Delhi Daredevils for the forthcoming Indian Premier League.

Pietersen was one of the star attractions in today’s auction for the lucrative Twenty20 franchise-based competition, and Delhi eventually clinched his signing for about £880,000.

Pietersen’s unceremonious sacking by the England and Wales Cricket Board earlier this month has made him one of the top attractions for the franchises, as he is now available for the entire competition. Under the terms of the central contract he no longer holds, Pietersen would have had to return to England in May, meaning he would miss the closing stages of the competition.

Last month, Delhi opted not to retain Pietersen but they were still in a strong position to recapture him again at the auction thanks to the ‘right to match card’ system. This allows franchises to equal the highest bid for one of their former players at the auction, so when Sunrisers Hyderadad put forward £880,000 for Pietersen, Delhi were able to offer the same and steal the 33-year-old from under their rivals’ noses.

Some had expected Pietersen to a higher price and Australia’s limited-overs batsman Aaron Finch, who will play for Hyderabad in the competition, remarked: “I think Delhi have got an absolute bargain there.”

Pietersen himself tweeted: “Morning. So happy to be back with the Delhi family. Lovely start to the day.” He also posted a picture of himself in Delhi uniform on the social networking site.

In order to collect the maximum fee, however, it is thought Pietersen would have to be available for every one of the first-round group matches in the IPL, which is likely to begin in early April, although the dates have still to be confirmed.

Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh and his compatriot, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, were the most coveted cricketers on the opening day of the auction. Royal Challengers Bangalore bid £1.4m for Yuvraj, while Karthik will join Pietersen at Delhi after he went for £1.2m.

The move to Delhi for the full IPL is effectively the first stage of Pietersen’s new cricketing career. For many years there has been speculation that he would join the T20 franchise circuit, although his sudden removal by the England and Wales Cricket Board has brought about that moment earlier than many would have anticipated.

When he returns from the IPL, Pietersen will play for Surrey, after signing a deal with the county earlier this week. The agreement is principally for the 33-year-old to play in the revamped T20 Blast, although there is scope for him to play in other competitions, including Division Two of the County Championship.

Not every Englishman found the IPL auction so rewarding, however. Pietersen’s former England team-mate Ian Bell attracted no interest while Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright, a member of the England squad for next month’s World Twenty20, tweeted: “Some very good players going unsold in round 1. So difficult to get picked up. Think I will be wearing a bobble hat in Hove come April.”

Kevin Pietersen's top five knocks for England

1/5

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in