Former England captain Michael Vaughan has claimed that many England players were jealous of then-team-mate Kevin Pietersen after he landed a lucrative IPL contract.
In 2009, Pietersen became one of the highest paid IPL players of all time when he landed a whopping $1.5 million contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
And according to Vaughan, the big payday for KP caused a lot of animosity within the England camp.
"I think there was a lot of jealousy. And the players will completely deny it now but I think there was at the time when Kevin was on a massive contract," Vaughan told Fox Sports.
Pietersen would also have a major falling out with then-captain Andrew Strauss due to their differing stances on the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) reluctance to allow participation in the IPL.
"It wasn't anything other than that Kev around that time wanted to go to the IPL. That's how it all started to blow up and that's when those factions came into play," said Vaughan.
"He (Pietersen) was saying to the team he wanted to play because it would further the development of the one-day team and all the one-day players would get the chance to play there and improve their game.
But several members of the England team felt Pietersen was only after the money.
"They deemed that he just wanted to go for the money. He was on a big contract while not many of the other players were even getting sniffed at," Vaughan said.
"It was very much Kevin against the team in terms of that one."
- TEAMtalk media