Lehmann slams 'overpaid' Pietersen over performances

Melbourne: Australian coach Darren Lehmann has come out with a scathing assessment of Kevin Pietersen after the Melbourne Stars were knocked out of the 2016/17 Big Bash League (BBL) in the semi-finals.

Lehmann was not convinced by the 36-year-old batsman’s excuses and advised the franchise to release him. The former all-rounder took to Twitter for his tirade and tagged Pietersen in the tweet so that he would not miss it.

Despite his age, Pietersen is still among the most sought-after cricketers in various T20 leagues. However, his recent form has been quite patchy. Though he ended the BBL season as Stars’ leading run-scorer, his strike-rate of 128.22 was not up to the mark.

The flamboyant right-hander was part of Stars’ catastrophic top-order collapse during the semi-final clash against Perth Scorchers. With Mitchell Johnson breathing fire, he laboured to a 10-ball 5 before an extravagant shot resulted in his downfall.

In response to his side's defeat, Pietersen went claimed that the WACA pitch was one of the slowest he had ever played on. Not stopping there, he slammed the umpires for giving an ‘absolute shocker’ of a decision regarding a caught-behind appeal against Sam Whiteman.

Pietersen reportedly makes more than $200,000 a year and has been contracted until the end of the next BBL edition. Even though Stars’ Chairman of Selectors Damien Fleming defended the former England batsman, Lehmann was in no mood to spare him.

Pietersen‘s next assignment will be the 2017 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). With his trademark explosiveness in the middle-order, he might have a key role in last year’s runner-up Quetta Gladiators’ batting fortunes.