Former English cricketer Kevin Pietersen on Sunday (24th April) lavished rich praise on KL Rahul. He said that the right-hander is a dynamic player and has matured beyond his age.
Over the past few years, Rahul has been one of the best batters in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After scoring truckloads of runs for Punjab Kings (PBKS), the right-hander shifted base to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the ongoing IPL 15.
LSG skipper Rahul has led from the front and is currently the second on the list of leading run-scorer in the tournament. He has scored 368 runs in 8 matches at a staggering average of 61.33 and a strike rate of 147.79. Not only this, but he also has two centuries and a fifty to his name.
Read Also: Cricket fraternity reacts as KL Rahul’s second century against MI this season takes LSG to 168/6
His second ton came in LSG’s most recent encounter against MI. He scored unbeaten 103 runs from 62 balls and helped his side post the total of 168 runs on the board and subsequently win the match by 36 runs. Rahul was also awarded Player of the Match for his knock and also earned many praises for his heroics.
Speaking on 'Cricket Live' on Star Sports, Kevin Pietersen lauded KL Rahul as a dynamic player, who will have success for many years. He highlighted how LSG skipper had overcome the pressure of scoring for different franchises.
"He's such a dynamic player and that's going to bear the fruit of his success for many a year. To continue scoring runs for different franchises is a damn hard (thing) to do because there's so much pressure going into these new franchises. There's so much pressure on you when you get bought for such big money,” Kevin Pietersen said.
Pietersen praised Rahul's composure and presence of mind, saying he has "matured way beyond his age". The Englishman advised him to keep supporting the team with his batting.
Read Also: WATCH - Krunal Pandya sends off Kieron Pollard with a goodbye kiss
“But when you have technique as solid as his, you've got a mindset as good as his, and you're calm as much as he's calm. And you can hear that in the way he talks to us. His presence of mind is so calm.
“He's matured way beyond his age. He'll just be proud of what he does and he'll have to continue to make sure that he focuses on his job because captaincy aside, franchise aside, his team does well when he's scored big runs,” he said.
Notably, Rahul has done a decent job as the captain of the franchise as well. Under him, LSG has won 5 out of their 8 matches in the tournament so far and is placed fourth on the points table. They will be next seen in action on Friday (29th April) when they take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) at MCA stadium in Pune.
(ANI inputs)
