Former England captain Kevin Pietersen shares an amazing bond with star India batter Virat Kohli. The 2 even shared the dressing room for 2 seasons on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2009 and 2010. All through Kohli’s profession, Pietersen has been one among his largest admirers, and the latter at all times had the previous’s again. In the course of the recent-concluded ODI sequence between India and England, Kohli and Pietersen’s camaraderie was clearly evident as the 2 had been typically seen having conversations earlier than and after the matches.
Pietersen, after the third ODI in Ahmedabad, had additionally revealed that he and Kohli by no means focus on about cricket. With Kohli set to characteristic for the staff within the Champions Trophy, Pietersen has backed his former RCB teammate to silence his critics, identical to he has finished up to now.
Whereas talking on Star Sports activities, Pietersen mentioned: “He is likely one of the greats of the sport. There have been too many individuals who’ve written him off on too many events. You’ll be able to’t write these guys off due to the aura they’ve after they stroll out to bat. The query mark comes all the way down to Virat Kohli.”
“The query mark does not come all the way down to me, you, the selectors, the coaches, and the opposite gamers. Virat Kohli can solely reply the query, by way of how lengthy he needs to proceed, and the way a lot battle he has to get higher and to create these excessive requirements that everyone expects from him,” he added.
Kohli not too long ago gave a signed Indian cricket staff jersey to Pietersen’s son Dylan.
Pietersen took to Instagram of his son carrying a shirt from Virat, which had his autograph with “To Dylan, with finest needs” written on it.
“Acquired house and gave @dylanpietersenphotography a present from @virat.kohli and it goes straight on! Suits like a glove. Thanks buddy!,” mentioned Pietersen’s publish caption.
Virat Kohli managed scores of 5 and 52 within the two ODIs he had performed in opposition to England. He had missed the opening sport in Nagpur as a consequence of a sore knee.
India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy, 2025: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. The three gamers will journey to Dubai as and when required.
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