Are Kings XI Punjab looking to buy Kevin Pietersen?

Pietersen’s sudden announcement has opened the flood gates in the IPL season.

Kevin Pietersen is suddenly in the news just days ahead of the much anticipated IPL auctions. After his recent sacking from the England team and no respite for him in the future for any recall, it’s now clear that he is available for the whole season this time.

Head of cricket operations for the Kings XI Punjab, Anant Sarkaria sounded excited at this prospect. “Kevin Pietersen is such an awesome player that every franchise would like to have him in the team. A lot of teams would be looking for him and we are one of them,”

“The availability of English players for the whole duration of the IPL has always been a problem for most of the franchises. They have international commitments to fulfill. Pietersen’s retirement changes the dynamics of auction. Now he will be available for full season. We are looking for a well-balanced team this season of the IPL,” Sarkaria said.

The English players have had an infamous past of not being available for a complete season due to obligations with the national team. Pietersen’s announcement though, will have everybody excited during the transfers given his enviable record in T20 cricket.

Yuvraj Singh is also another player to watch out for after the dissolution of Pune Warriors India who were running in troubled waters for some time now. This means that Yuvraj is now open for selection and has just made the already competitive transfer market even more competitive.

“Yuvraj is a Punjabi boy. We would love to have him back in the KXIP. There’s always some kind of interest in Yuvi. But, having said that, we are looking at lot of other players at the auction. We are looking at good mix of foreign and Indian stars to build a strong team for the coming edition. It’s precisely the reason behind retaining only two players (David Miller and Manan Vohra),” Sarkaria added.

Darren Lehman who was denied permission by Cricket Australia to participate in the IPL this season will have to be relieved by the Kings XI side.

Sarkaria specified, “We knew he was trying a job with Cricket Australia. We were fully aware of it. We reached a mutual understanding and there was nothing like he was not allowed by the CA to take up the IPL job. Both of us reached a mutual understanding.”