'Imagine this tweet 8-9 years ago' - Kevin Pietersen takes a dig at ECB's tweet on IPL 2020

Since its inception in 2008, the Indian Premier League has emerged as a platform where the cricketers come together to play as a team irrespective of their national boundaries. Though in the beginning, many cricket boards were apprehensive of allowing their contracted players to participate in the Indian league, they slowly realized the importance of this tournament.

On October 30, Friday ahead of the game between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) took to their official Twitter handle to wish luck to the two mainstays of the England cricket team, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. Both Stokes and Archer are representing Rajasthan Royals in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020).

ECB tweeted, “Good luck to our lads in today’s huge IPL game!”

Good luck to our lads in today's huge IPL game! pic.twitter.com/XzFDd9gBZN

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 30, 2020

It was an important game for the Royals to keep their hopes of making it to the playoffs alive. Owing to a clinical victory against Punjab by 7 wickets, the team is now placed at the fifth spot with 12 points in 13 games.

Kevin Pietersen takes a jibe at England board

Seeing the tweet by the England cricket board, the former English player Kevin Pietersen couldn’t stop himself from taking a sly dig at the former. Interestingly, Kevin had a spat with ECB as they were reluctant in allowing him to be a part of IPL. Pietersen was one of the first England players to feature in the cash-rich league.

“Just imagine, IMAGINE this tweet 8/9 years ago…! I’m so happy these guys are benefitting positively from the IPL!,” Pietersen wrote, retweeting ECB.

Just imagine, IMAGINE this tweet 8/9 years ago…! 🤣🤣🤣

I’m so happy these guys are benefitting positively from the IPL! 🙏🏽 https://t.co/QqWx9qr1Yx

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) October 31, 2020

In his autobiography ‘KP’, released in 2014, Pietersen had accused ECB of being jealous of the money involved in the Indian Premier League. The swashbuckling batsman had reckoned that the board was not comfortable in allowing their players to participate in IPL as they were jealous of its money and popularity.

“A lot of people in English cricket like to explain their attitude to the IPL as an ideological problem. It’s a problem about India and money. The ECB doesn’t really know how to deal with India or money. Whenever the IPL comes up in conversation you can feel the meeting room grow uneasy.”

“When the IPL started, all ECB could see was IPL’s money and its own jealousy. Also English players want to play in the IPL but they are afraid of not being picked for the national team,” Pietersen had added.