NEW DELHI (AFP) — Kevin Pietersen should not be surprised if he finds life tough in the exclusive Indian Premier League million-dollar club.
Pietersen and compatriot Andrew Flintoff were the highest paid among auctioned cricketers at 1.55-million dollars each, followed by India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni (1.50m) and Australian Andrew Symonds (1.35m).
Indians Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly are other millionaries, but were not auctioned as they enjoy iconic status.
The burden of expectations will be more on the million-dollar men than others as they need to justify their huge pay-cheques.
But Pietersen faces more testing times than his club-mates, for he is expected to excel not only as a batsman but also as captain of a team which finished seventh out of eight teams in the inaugural edition last year.
Bangalore Royal Challengers desperately need the Pietersen magic to revive their fortunes in South Africa, having won just four of their 14 matches last season.
Bangalore was dubbed a "Test team" for having players with better Test than Twenty20 credentials, like India's Rahul Dravid and South African Jacques Kallis, but hope to turn things around this time under charismatic Pietersen.
"A player like Kevin is a great buy for us. He is one of the most explosive batsmen in the world and will bring a lot of class to our team," said franchise chairman Vijay Mallya.
All-rounder Flintoff is expected to provide more solidity to Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings, who finished runners-up to Rajasthan Royals last year.
Flintoff said the IPL would help him prepare for England's busy season, which includes the World Twenty20 in June and the Test series against the West Indies and Australia.
"I think the IPL will be good for me. I know I'm only bowling four overs a game, but it will give me a chance to work on my game in between matches going into a Test series," he said.
Pietersen and Flintoff will play only the first two weeks of the IPL before returning home in early-May to prepare for the series against the West Indies.
Dhoni justified his million-dollar signing last year, emerging among the top 10 IPL run-getters with 414 apart from leading his side into the final with his intelligent captaincy.
The hard-hitting batsman also led India to the title-triumph in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa in 2007.
India have been flourishing under his leadership of late, winning one-day series against England at home in 2008 and then in Sri Lanka and New Zealand this year.
Andrew Symonds will be missing from action in the initial part of the IPL this time because of Australia's international assignments, but he showed glimpses of his devasting form in four matches he played last year.
The Australian all-rounder will be remembered by Deccan Chargers' fans for his explosive 53-ball 117 against Rajastan Royals.
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