‘Want to spend time back home; focus on becoming all-format player for New Zealand’ – Kyle Jamieson reveals why he pulled out of IPL mega auction

New Zealand ace pacer Kyle Jamieson has opened up on the reason behind pulling out of the upcoming IPL mega auction. Jaimeson admitted that having spent a considerable amount of time in bio-secure environments away from his family in the last couple of years owing to the Covid-19 situation has taken a toll on him mentally, and he could not have endured an IPL-long duration in bubble again.

Jamieson has taken rapid strides in Test cricket in the last year and is currently ranked No.4 in ICC Test rankings for bowlers, while No.6 in Test all-rounders. However, he clarified his aim to establish and cement his name as an all-format player.

“Yeah, look, there were a couple of things for me,” Jamieson said on Thursday. “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.

“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.”

Since making his international debut in February 2020, the lanky pacer has represented the Kiwis in 12 Tests, 5 ODIs and 8 T20Is, while he was picked for INR 15 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2021 IPL auction, although he failed to impress in the nine games he played.