Ace New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson has not entered the IPL 2022 mega auction, leaving everyone in shock. Early into his international career, Jamieson has already impressed one and all and had a good stint in his debut IPL season last year with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The tall and lanky all-rounder, who pocketed INR 15 crore in the auction, picked up nine wickets in as many games and scored 65 runs. A couple of franchises had their eyes on the youngster, who is reckoned to be one of the best all-rounders in the business.
There is No Kyle Jamieson in IPL Auction Shortlist players.
— Afsha (@AfshaCricket) February 2, 2022
However, in order to spend more time at home – and away from Covid-19 restrictions on tour – and to give himself a window in which to work on his game, Kyle Jamieson has opted out of this season.
Addressing the media on the eve of Auckland’s Plunket Shield opener against Northern Districts, Jamieson said:
“Yeah, look, there were a couple of things for me. Firstly, after the last 12 months, it’s had its challenges with MIQs (managed isolation and quarantine) and bubbles and spending a fair amount of time in that sort of set-up. It was important for me, when I look at the schedule coming up over the next 12 months to try and find six weeks or eight weeks where I can spend some time at home.”
Kyle Jamieson added:
“The second thing for me was, reflecting over the last 12-24 months and understanding that I’m very young in my [international] career and only two years in, that I wanted to have time to work on my game. I guess I didn’t really feel like I was where I wanted to be and if I want to compete for spots in the New Zealand sides moving forward across all three formats, I actually need to spend time working on my game and not just trying to play the whole time. Yeah, for me it was just about time at home and just time to work on my game.”
Kyle Jamieson likely to return next year
The 27-year-old further said that he is only skipping IPL 2022 and hopes he would be able to feature in the future.
“I’m still pretty young, I still think I’m young at 27 and I’ve still got a few years ahead, so this is just for this year and looking at what the next 12 months will look like, and hopefully moving forward there will be more opportunities to try and dip my toes into that environment,” Jamieson concluded.