'I'd bat him at No. 4 for India in T20' - Kevin Pietersen calls for KL Rahul's international comeback

Delhi Capitals mentor Kevin Pietersen has strongly recommended star batter KL Rahul as a suitable candidate for India's No. 4 spot in T20Is. Pietersen praised Rahul’s newly adopted batting style and called for his return to the national side ahead of the Men's T20 World Cup 2026.

After being picked up by the Capitals for INR 14 crore ahead of IPL 2025, the right-hand batter has made a strong impact with the bat. In eight games, he has scored 364 runs at an average of 60.66 and a strike rate of 146.18, including three half-centuries. Despite scoring 41 off 39 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last night, Rahul’s innings wasn’t enough as Delhi fell short of putting up a decent total. However, the former England skipper's attention was caught not just by the numbers, but also by his intent and positivity at the crease.

"I'd bat KL at four for India in T20 cricket, I think you guys have got plenty of opening batters, you've got Surya who bats at the top, you've got all of these guys but the way that KL Rahul is playing cricket now, he would be my first choice to bat at four and keep wicket for India. "KL has been playing in a very positive manner since late last year, mid to late last year. We saw how he finished off a couple of the games for India and almost sealed the deal in the Champions Trophy in Dubai," Pietersen said in the post-match press conference on Sunday, April 27. 

I've had a lot of incredibly brilliant conversations with KL: Pietersen

The 33-year-old has been out of India's T20I setup since the 2022 World Cup semi-final loss against England. Over the past year, the Karnataka-born has made slight adjustments to his game and worked on rediscovering his free-flowing style, and discarded the pressure of playing deep that slowed his game. The former England international mentioned the challenges the Indian batter faced in adapting his game.

"I've had a lot of incredibly brilliant conversations with him about batting, a lot of deep and meaningful conversations because when you grow up as a youngster like he did, and you get taught defence, elbow up, play in the V and then all of a sudden in your thirties you've got to change it, and you've got to become a different kind of player for a different format which is evolving all the time. It's very, very difficult. So the way that he has accepted that he's needed to change, the way that he has changed, is of great, great credit to the person that he is. He is so positive, the way that he practices, the way that he trains, the way he thinks about the game, and also the way that he talks about the game. That's KL," Pietersen added.

The Delhi mentor also opined on the value of technique in modern cricket, believing that despite newer players bringing new techniques, players like Rahul, who have a mix of both traditional and modern approaches with are important, especially on tougher wickets.

"I think a lot of these players are not going to play Test match cricket. So you're probably looking at it as a view, and I do often as well, I look at it and I just think like this is just crazy, some of the shots that you see and how quickly these guys play the shots, it looks like utter madness, but that's the form of the game," he said further.

"On wickets like we're playing on this evening (DC vs RCB game), you can't play that way, and you've got to be methodical, you've got to find rhythm, Virat [Kohli] found rhythm this evening, KL got rhythm and I think that's where you see the  true batter, the real batter that can come out there and sort of monitor the situation, and it looks effortless because they've built a technique for 20 years, 30 years, whereas you give the absolute belters and that's when the next generation can come in and do all sorts of things," he concluded.