IPL 2022 | Want to spend six-eight weeks at home in the next 12 months, says Kyle Jamieson on skipping mega auction

The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is expected to begin on the last week of March, and ahead of the upcoming season of the tournament a mega auction is scheduled on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru. The IPL franchises will be looking forward to building their core team with picks from the mega auction. IPL 2022 will be an exciting season as 10 teams will compete with each other for the coveted trophy. 

However, several foreign players have opted out featuring in the mega auction ahead of the upcoming season of the cash-rich league. Among the big names, Kyle Jamieson's absence will be a huge miss in the auction, as fans and experts expected a bidding war for the New Zealand all-rounder. Jamieson was the second-most-expensive pick in the 2021 IPL auction, as Royal Challengers Bangalore roped in the all-rounder for a whopping 15 crore. The 27-year-old featured in nine matches, and scalped nine wickets for RCB in the 14th edition of the lucrative league.

Meanwhile, Jamieson stated that he opted out IPL 2022 mega auction in order to spend more time at home in the next 12 months. The New Zealand all-rounder further added that wants time to work on his game, and is looking forward to becoming an integral part of the team in all formats.

"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," Jamieson told during a media interaction on Thursday.

"The second thing for me was, reflecting over the last 12-24 months and understanding that I'm very young in my 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," he added.

Jamieson reckoned that he had a good learning experience during his stint with RCB in the last season of IPL.

"I guess it was [a difficult decision] initially," he said. "I sat with it for a fair while, and it was kind of lucky I had a couple of months in bubbles to sit in my room and have a think, but once I'd made the decision, it was a bit of a weight off my shoulder in a way, in terms of just focusing on myself and trying to get better.

"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.".