'Dumb Slog Millionaire' - Kevin Pietersen recalls incident when he got picked in IPL

Kevin Pietersen is one of the best batsmen to have ever played for England. He was one of the first players from England to come and play the Indian Premier League. When the T20 league started, English cricket had shown some resistance towards it, but eventually with time they started sending more and more players to the league. 

Pietersen has several times revealed that he had received a lot of backlash from his teammates and experts in the United Kingdom for appearing in the cash-rich league. Pietersen had even retired once because he was not allowed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). In a recent interaction, Pietersen recalled a funny story from the time he was bought at the auction. 

The IPL 2021 auction is currently in action and on this occasion Pietersen talked about how things can change quickly for any player in the auction. He expressed that it can be exciting or disappointing for any player. 

You can get signed for big money and see your life change, or you can sit there with nothing: Kevin Pietersen on IPL auction

“The IPL auction – which takes place for the 2021 competition on Thursday – can be very exciting, or very disappointing. It’s as simple as that. You can get signed for big money and see your life change, or you can sit there with nothing,” Pietersen was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror.

Pietersen was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2009 IPL auction. He had gone for INR 7.5 crore ($1.5 million) which was at the time the highest ever bid for any player. Interestingly, Andrew Flintoff had also been bought for the same price by Chennai Super Kings. Pietersen recalled the headline which had come out the day after that. England was playing a Test match in West Indies and Pietersen had got out for 97.

“In 2009, me and Freddie found out we’d gone for $1.5m in the middle of a Test match in the Caribbean. The next day I slogged one up in the air on 97, and the headline was, ‘Dumb Slog Millionaire’ I still think that was the best headline ever written about me,” he added.