Kevin Pietersen opts out of IPL 2017

Kevin Pietersen will not play the 2017 season of the IPL, citing a busy winter as a reason for not entering the player auction scheduled for later this month.

Pietersen, 36, was part of the Rising Pune Supergiants franchise in 2016 but played only four games before missing the rest of the tournament with a calf injury. He was released by the franchise in December last year and would have had to be bought at the player auction in February to play this year.

"I won't be going into the IPL auction," Pietersen said on Twitter. "My winter has been too busy with all my travel & I don't want to spend April/May away too!"

Pietersen spent the winter playing the domestic T20 tournament in South Africa - 198 runs in five innings for Dolphins - and the Big Bash League in Australia, where he scored 268 runs in eight innings in Melbourne Stars' run to the semi-final.

He had played for Quetta Gladiators in the inaugural season of the PSL in 2016 and is set to be part of the team once again for the upcoming tournament from February 9 to March 5. The IPL is scheduled to begin in the first week of April and end in the third week of May.