Dubai: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen wants Delhi Capitals to win the upcoming IPL 2020 that is scheduled to begin from September 19 in the United Arab Emirates.
Pietersen took to his official Instagram account and wrote "From a bubble in the UK to a bubble in Dubai...! I love that we have cricket back and as always very excited about working on the @iplt20. Who’s winning? I hope Delhi!"
The 40-year-old's love affair with Delhi can be understood from the fact that he represented the franchise (then known as Delhi Daredevils) for three seasons and also led them in 2014. The batsman was a mainstay in the middle-order for the capital-based franchise and played several crucial knocks for them. In the 2012 edition, Pietersen scored a brilliant 104* off just 64 balls and single-handedly took his side to victory against Deccan Chargers.
Delhi Daredevils were rechristened as Delhi Capitals in 2019 and managed to reach the IPL playoffs last season for the first time in seven years. The Shreyas Iyer-led side have been bolstered by the additions of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane.
The side will be gunning for their maiden IPL crown and would want to shed the tag of being IPL’s perennial underachievers.
Pietersen will be heading over to Dubai for commentary duties and was also seen doing coverage of the recently concluded T20I series between England and Australia at Southampton. Pietersen will thus be moving from one bio-secure bubble in England to another one in the UAE – to fulfil the protocols laid down in order to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.
During his playing days, Pietersen had represented Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiant. South Africa- born cricketer played 36 IPL matches, scoring 1001 runs at an average of 35.75 and a strike-rate of 134.72.
IPL 2020 is all set to take place in the UAE between September 19 and November 10 across three venues – Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.
Delhi Capitals will take on Kings XI Punjab in their opening match on September 20.
