Kevin Pietersen earns fat IPL deal

Yuvraj, Maxwell, Anderson most sought after players.

MUMBAI: England may have jettisoned Kevin Pietersen, but the maverick batsman’s hard-hitting ability fetched him the highest bid among foreign players at Wednesday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

Pietersen, available for the entire duration of the cash-rich IPL after being shunned by England, was picked up by Delhi, the franchise he played for last year, for Indian Rs90 million after an intense bidding war.

The Chennai, Hyderabad and Punjab franchises bid heavily for the batsman, whose base price was Rs20 million, but Delhi bagged his services after using their right to match the highest bid.

“So happy to be back with the Delhi family,” former England captain Pietersen said on his Twitter account. “A lovely start to the day.”

India’s Yuvraj Singh drew the highest bid of Rs140 million in the morning session of the auction and was bought by the Vijay Mallya-owned Bangalore franchise.

Two all-rounders who were highly appealing for teams were Australian Glenn Maxwell and New Zealand’s Corey Anderson.

Mumbai and Delhi went head-to-head for sensational Maxwell, but the latter pulled out of the auction as Rs47.5 million. However, Punjab sneaked in to enter the bidding at a new price of Rs50 million, which forced the MI to step up their bid by five million more.

However, Punjab’s management had their heart set on Maxwell and outbid their rivals at Rs60 million to get the man they wanted.

Anderson, who has been one of the most sought after players after breaking Shahid Afridi’s record of scoring fastest century in One-day Internationals, was also high in demand.

Rajasthan, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad were all gunning for him, but he was plucked by Mumbai outfit after a close fight with Hyderabad at Rs45 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.

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