Pietersen in support of Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020

"I had my best IPL years at Delhi"

With the 2020 edition of the IPL soon to get underway in Dubai, ex-England and IPL star Kevin Pietersen has said that he is “rooting for the Delhi Capitals.

“The Delhi Capitals are a favourite of mine. I had my best IPL years at Delhi,” Pietersen told Betway.

“I love the ownership structure, and I am still very close to them now. I also had some of my best innings with Delhi and enjoyed a great rapport with the fans of the franchise.

“I’d really love them to turn a corner and for everybody to fire this year.

Despite Pietersen’s wishes, the Capitals do not have history and statistics on their side.

The Capitals have a young side and only one team has won the tournament with an average age of under 25, the Rajasthan Royals in 2008.

The Capitals too have only spent $9,199,000 on their squad this year, less than every other team, and are the only current franchise not to have reached an IPL final.

However, Pietersen has plenty of reasons to be hopeful, particularly the strength of their squad despite their low spend.

“They’ve got Ricky Ponting as their coach, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada as their overseas bowlers, and some very exciting Indian talent on their books.

“I want them to win it.” 

The team with the most expensive squad has never won the tournament, this year the biggest spenders are the Mumbai Indians.

Furthermore, for 11 of the 12 previous winners, their most expensive player was from India. The exception to this was Andrew Symonds in 2009, who cost Deccan Chargers $1.35million.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Pat Cummins), Rajasthan Royals (Ben Stokes) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (David Warner) all have an overseas as their most expensive player this year.

This is not to detract from the importance of overseas players, though.

11 of the 12 previous champions have had at least 15 internationally capped players. Rajasthan Royals, ever the exception to these sequences, had only 13 capped players in their victorious 2008 squad.

But what makes the IPL so entertaining is how unpredictable it is and any team’s ability to defy the odds. 

It has been well over a year since the last tournament, meaning players and fans are as excited as ever.