Former England captain Kevin Pietersen praised the team fiercely India As opener KL Rahul he called him the No. 1 batsman in the world at the moment. Rahul, who has been in the lead in the Indian team for the past few years, struggled during the Asia Cup 2022 but regained his form in the T20I series against Australia and South Africa.
Pietersen has predicted that the flamboyant India opener will score big runs in the upcoming T20Is World cup.
Rahul is in great form, batsmen have scored 62 runs Afghanistan In the last Super Four match of India’s Asia Cup 2022. He has scored three fifties in five bilateral matches against Australia and South Africa at home.
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In his column for betway.com, Pietersen expressed confidence that Rahul will be different with the bat. “I love him. I think he’s the No. 1 batsman in the world at the moment. He’s absolutely brilliant. With the ball bouncing, swinging and seaming, I think he plays in a very authentic way and scores runs Quite right to increase,” Peterson said.
The 30-year-old also scored a crucial 57 in the warm-up match against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Pietersen, however, had predicted that England would win the title after their title race in the 2021 edition, the semi-final was cut by New Zealand.
“This England white-ball team is absolutely fantastic. They really are. They’re great to look at, they cover all the bases, and I think they go by as a favorite. It was a big win in Pakistan (seven match T20I series), a big win. And he is very confident with the way he has played the practice matches in Australia. It has been the perfect build-up,” Peterson said.
The veteran batsman further suggested that Alex Hales will be crucial for England as he is a match-winner with the bat.
“It is dusting between (Phil) Salt and Helms for that top (opener) spot, and it will be interesting to see who they pick. It would be nice if Hales gets the gig, based purely on the fact that he wins the game. At the end of the day, it’s up to the players to agree on what the process is and whether a person fits. The most important thing around this crap with Hales is that he wins games of cricket for England. Peterson said.
Pietersen said the “Stokes factor” would be huge in England’s title bid.
“It is irrelevant when Ben Stokes last played this form of the game. He brings feel, aura and a fear factor to this side of England. When the opposition is making all their match preparations, the man that gets talked about the most is Stokes, because of what he can do, and what he has done in his career. He just brings that fear factor and that aura to the team.
“England is my favourite. They have depth in all departments. They have excellent fast bowlers, a brilliant spinner in Adil Rashid and their batting needs no introduction.”
Pietersen also suggested that South Africa would be the dark horse as they have a powerful bowling attack to take advantage of the Australian conditions.
“The reason I say that South Africa can be the dark horse is because of the weather conditions that are knocking, that the South African bowling attack – Marco Janssen, Enrique Nortje and Kagiso Rabada – can do some real damage. I’ve seen what Rabada and Nortje have done in the IPL when they’ve played together for a season, and you can very quickly be 20 for five or 30 for six. Their batsmen wouldn’t need to score that many runs to make such totals.”
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