Kevin Pietersen withdraws from Indian Premier League auction

Kevin Pietersen will not participate in this year's Indian Premier League after pulling out of the player auction ahead of the event. The ex-England batsman has previously represented Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Deccan Chargers, the Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiants but will have a watching brief when the tournament kicks off on 5 April.

Since being dismissed by England, the 36-year-old has applied his trade across the globe in various domestic T20 competitions. In 2016 alone, Pietersen played in five separate events in the shortest format of the sport including in Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and Pakistan.

Pietersen has recently concluded playing in the Big Bash League where he helped Melbourne Stars reach the semi-final, but has chosen to trim down his schedule by missing the world's blue ribbon T20 event. The right-hander will instead rest over the spring after a hectic winter period.

"FYI - I won't be going into the IPL auction," Pietersen wrote on Twitter. "My winter has been too busy with all my travel & I don't want to spend April/May away too!" The former Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and Surrey player has not committed to any other competitions this year, with English cricket's T20 Blast among his possible destinations.

Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Jason Roy, Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills and Alex Hales are among the England players available in the IPL player auction, the date for which is yet to be confirmed. The bidding process was expected to take place on 4 February, but the break-up of the BCCI has forced a delay with a date now expected to be agreed between 20-25 February.

Meanwhile, Pietersen has gone out of the Big Bash with a bang after being charged with misconduct after criticising an umpire. The incident occurred during the Stars' semi-final defeat to Perth Scorchers in January, when batsman Sam Whiteman was given not out after a caught-behind appeal.

Reacting to the episode while wearing an on-field microphone, Pietersen said: "That was a shocker, an absolute shocker. He says it could have been glove or pad, and I said, 'well, he's got big gloves and big pads to reach that'. Massive nick." Cricket Australia have given Pietersen 48 hours to appeal against the charge, but if found guilty he faces a fine of £3,052.