Kevin Pietersen believes that Delhi Capitals star KL Rahul has done enough in the ongoing Indian Premier League season to earn a recall into the national T20 side. Rahul has not played for Team India in the shortest format of the game since the Men in Blue lost the semi-final against England in Adelaide at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022.
“I’d bat KL at four for India in T20 cricket. I think you guys (India) have got plenty of opening batters, you’ve got Surya () who bats at the top, you’ve got all of these guys but the way that is playing cricket now, he would be my first choice to bat at four and keep wicket for India,” Pietersen, who is a mentor with the this season, had said in the post-match press conference after Delhi Capitals’ defeat to .
At Delhi, Rahul and Pietersen have struck up a casual camaraderie, where Rahul has constantly been pulling the former England cricketer’s leg, particularly for the tweet from KP about watching Rahul bat being like watching paint dry.
The 33-year-old Rahul was seventh at the end of the 2024 season in the race with 520 runs for the . This season, having moved camps to the Delhi Capitals, Rahul has racked up 364 runs in eight innings which sees him in ninth spot. This includes three half-centuries, which included the game-winning, unbeaten 93 from just 53 deliveries against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“KL has been playing in a very positive manner since late last year, mid to late last year. We saw how he finished off a couple of the games for India and almost sealed the deal in the Champions Trophy in Dubai,” Pietersen noted.
“I’ve had a lot of incredibly brilliant conversations with him about batting, a lot of deep and meaningful conversations because when you grow up as a youngster like he did and you get taught defence – elbow up, play in the V and then all of a sudden in your 30s, you’ve got to change it and you’ve got to become a different kind of player for a different format which is evolving all the time… It’s very, very difficult. So the way that he has accepted that he’s needed to change, the way that he has changed is of great, great credit to the person that he is. He is so positive, the way that he practices, the way that he trains, the way he thinks about the game and also the way that he talks about the game. That’s KL.”
