Kevin Pietersen is considered as one of IPL’s most celebrated and popular overseas player.
Kevin Pietersen is renowned for his stardom in the sport of cricket. The former English cricketer remains an influential figure as he was one of the most flamboyant batsmen in the world, wreaking havoc on nearly every bowling line up in this sport.
He holds the record for being the highest-paid player in IPL history when he was bought for £1.1m in 2009 by Royal Challengers Bangalore. He recently spoke with IPL Betting site Betway.
The Englishman has had the chance to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also entertain Indian fans with his skills.
As stated earlier, Kevin Pietersen played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, before going on to represent Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiants.
Although; he is retired from sports currently, during his career at the IPL, he captained both Bangalore and Delhi, and scored over 1,000 runs in 37 IPL matches of the biggest franchise league in the world, at an average of over 35 and a strike-rate of 134.72.
The knowledge he’s gained from this experience at the IPL; is what he shared in an interview with betway, the former England star spoke about how important IPL was to him as it allowed him to rub shoulders with some of the finest players of the game and see, first-hand, the habits that made them great.
He also spoke of the IPL as being a tournament that was viewed religiously, and the pressures of playing in such a huge tournament as the amount of money, owners decide to spend on players automatically puts them in a position where a lot of expectations are placed on their shoulders.
“In the league, it isn’t just the money the team owners invest, but also fans who are known to be most active in IPL betting when the tournament is on. It’s safe to say a ton of money is at stake and everyone connected with the sport – be it fans or players – are glued on to the IPL when it’s on,” Pietersen told Betway.
Pietersen spoke of his experiences when he captained both the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils and his love for the teams he’s played in.
He also spoke of his friendship with Virat Kohli and revealed how he was able to guide him back when the two shared a dressing room in the Indian Premier League Side Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Pietersen was captain of RCB in the 2009 season; when Kohli was one of the youngest players in the squad and was yet to make his debut for India.
Pietersen stated that the Indian captain was always destined for greatness due to the mindset that he had from a young age.
“Sitting in the bus with Virat and batting with Virat, I knew he was destined for greatness because of how he approached the game and the way he learned and the questions he asked,” Pietersen told Betway.
“He was a chubby little fella back then and I still take the mickey out of him for it. But his determination to be the best player he could possibly be was evident.”
“I remember I was winning a game for us against Rajasthan Royals and he ran me out. I gave him an absolute serve walking off the field. But you could see this was a youngster who was determined to get his team over the line. He wasn’t just going to give his wicket away and it didn’t matter how many Tests I’d played or how much more senior I was,” he said.
Kohli is currently recognized as one of the best batsmen in the world. He has captained RCB since 2011 and remains the highest run-scorer of all time in the IPL with 5412 runs thus far. His five centuries put him second on the list of most centuries in the IPL, only behind his former teammate Chris Gayle’s tally of six.
“We do have an incredible friendship, probably because of the way I treated him when he was a youngster and how I helped and guided him at the start of his career,” said Pietersen.
Pietersen also fondly recalled his experience with Virender Sehwag, a fellow teammate, he said; the former India opener’s carefree batting was something that he really enjoyed.
In the course of the interview, Pietersen also explained where the disagreement with the English Cricket Board emanated from. Despite the IPL landing him in trouble with the national board, he fondly recalled the unity he had with his former teammates in the IPL and claimed that they even played FIFA together among other things.
Pietersen ended it by saying that the unique atmosphere in the Indian stadiums is something you can’t experience elsewhere in the world of cricket – that is a bold statement but we’ll take his word for it.
The interview was originally posted on The Insider.
