Michael Vaughan Reveals Name of England Players Who Were ‘Jealous’ of Kevin Pietersen's Enormous IPL Contract

Many cricketers aim to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the cash-rich tournament offers big money to the players. In the first few editions of the gala tournament, many England players didn’t showcase their interests. However, the likes of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen bagged enormous amounts. The latter was made captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after receiving a whopping 7.5 crore in 2009 IPL auctions. The right-handed batsman was in brilliant form throughout the tournament and played a crucial role in guiding RCB to the finals. In a recent interview, however, former England captain Michael Vaughan revealed that Pietersen’s massive IPL contract created jealousy among many English cricketers. Kevin Pietersen Trolls Virat Kohli Over ‘Grey Beard’ With a Cheeky Comment in Indian Captain’s Shaving Video.

“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,” Vaughan was quoted as per saying by India Today. He also revealed the names of the players who were against the idea of playing in IPL and hence, they ‘teamed-up’ against Pietersen.

“There were all sorts of whispers and rumours of cliques in the team. There was a little band of a few; Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, (James) Anderson, (Stuart) Broad and Matt Prior. The whispers were they were on one side and Kevin was kind of standing on his own on the other side. It was very much Kevin against the team in terms of that one”, Vaughan added.

Further in the conversation, the 45-year old also revealed that Pietersen waned to play IPL in order to improve his white-ball game and he also used to discuss it with his teammates. However, others believed that the right-handed batsman played the tournament for money. However, Vaughan also highlighted the fact that Pietersen bagged an enormous contract while others didn’t.

“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. 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. 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,” Vaughan said while concluding.

The participation of England players in foreign T20 leagues became smooth in 2015 when Andrew Strauss became the director of cricket. After that, many English players like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Jofra Archer bagged big contracts from various franchises and showcased their blitzes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 22, 2020 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).