IPL 2025: KL Would Be My First Choice To Bat, Keep Wickets In T20Is, Says Pietersen

T20 World Cup: Delhi Capitals (DC) mentor Kevin Pietersen believes KL Rahul’s transformed batting approach for the side in IPL 2025 should translate into a return for the wicketkeeper-batter in India’s T20I set-up.

Rahul last played T20Is for India in 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup, where he made only 128 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 120.75 and came under fire for playing an outdated style of T20 cricket. But since joining DC in IPL 2025, Rahul has reinvented his style of playing T20s, with its base being playing aggressively with greater freedom – as seen from him amassing 364 runs in eight games, with an average of 60.67 and strike-rate of 146.18.

"I think you guys have got plenty of opening batters. You've got Surya who bats at the top, and you've got all of these guys but the way that KL Rahul is playing cricket now, he would be my first choice to bat at four and keep wicket for India," said Pietersen in the post-match press conference, after DC lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets.

On Sunday, Rahul struggled to make 41 off 39 balls against RCB, which happened due to a combination of batting on a pitch offering grip to spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma, who constantly attacked stumps. Pietersen, though, appreciated Rahul for expressing a desire to change his approach in T20 cricket.

"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.

“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 thirties, 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," he added.

Choosing to reflect on DC making 162/8, the lowest first innings total here since IPL 2024, Pietersen did acknowledge that batting first was hard due to the dryness on the pitch and felt chasing was the ideal option. That decision, though, was taken out of DC’s hands when RCB skipper Rajat Patidar elected to bowl first. Interestingly, at that time, DC skipper Axar Patel had no qualms in batting first.

“We lost the toss. I think we were also going to chase (if we had won the toss). Winning the toss was very important. I think batting got a little bit easier towards the end. It was a little bit harder in the first innings for us especially in the middle overs - the wicket was dry and dew hadn’t set yet.

“When we finished training last night (on Saturday), there wasn’t any dew, so I'm not so sure whether that would have played too much of a role in what we did because statistics actually said the seven previous games that have been played here, the team batting first has won the game, so that's the first chase win.

“But we were going to chase this evening and I just think conditions and the toss probably just didn't play in our favour. I think shot-making was very difficult on that wicket. When someone like KL Rahul is finding it hard to get a boundary, then you have to trust that the wicket is not as easy to bat on at that particular stage,” he elaborated.

DC have just a day’s break to regroup before taking the field against an erratic Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday, and Pietersen feels the side is yet to play its perfect match in all aspects. “Again, we've got a very, very good bowling line-up. We've got an incredibly long batting line-up, and I think it completely depends on who we're up against.”

“If you have a look at this evening's fixture, the kind of players and the kind of team that Bangalore are, probably a better wicket to play them against, whereas against KKR on Tuesday, I'm hoping it's not the wicket that we got here. So, I think there can be changes, that's the luxury of playing at home.

“We haven't quite hit our perfect game yet as a team. So I don't really think it's the wicket that we should be discussing. I think it's more, we haven't really played that complete game. For us to be sitting where we're sitting with 12 points, knowing that we actually haven't really hit our straps in all departments, is a good thing.

“Here the guys believed we could win, even when Bengaluru were almost across the line, because of previous games that we have won. So, we haven't played our perfect match yet, and I do believe that it's coming.”

IPL 2025 is the first time Pietersen has been in a cricket coaching role after spending his post-playing years in the commentary box. By working up and close with experienced campaigners like Rahul and Faf du Plessis along with youngsters like Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma, Pietersen signed off by highlighting both the exciting unpredictability and enduring value of technique in modern batting.

"I think a lot of these players are not going to play Test match cricket. So you're probably looking at it as a view, and I do often as well, I look at it and I just think like this is just crazy, some of the shots that you see and how quickly these guys play the shots, it looks like utter madness, but that's the form of the game.

"On wickets like we played on this evening, you can't play that way and you've got to be methodical, you've got to find rhythm, Virat (Kohli) found rhythm this evening, KL got rhythm and I think that's where you see the true batter, the real batter that can come out there and sort of monitor the situation.

“It looks effortless because they've built a technique for 20 years, 30 years, whereas you give the absolute belters and that's when the next generation can come in and do all sorts of things. So is it good for T20 cricket to have the occasional wicket like this? I don't think it's a bad thing.

“Is it good to see the bowlers just bowling and just being served up into the stands every single ball, like what happened a bit last year, and how it started this year? I don't think every night people want to see that.

“It looks effortless because they've built a technique for 20 years, 30 years, whereas you give the absolute belters and that's when the next generation can come in and do all sorts of things. So is it good for T20 cricket to have the occasional wicket like this? I don't think it's a bad thing.

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Article Source: IANS