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Delhi Capitals (DC) Mentor Kevin Pietersen said that he has enjoyed working with young Indian players in the ongoing Indian Premier League, adding that he has learned "an incredible amount" about modern T20 from them.
"My role is to try and give them ideas that make them become better cricketers - in this period, but hopefully in three, four, five, six months' time too. It's just to help them on their journey," Kevin Pietersen said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. Pietersen believed that his role extends beyond the IPL itself, and cited the example of 22-year-old keeper-batter Abishek Porel. "We were talking about range-hitting - trying to give him a technique to be a little bit more consistent hitting sixes off spinners. I said to him [Abishek Porel], 'It's not going to happen today, and it's not going to happen tomorrow. This is a process for you to develop." In the ongoing IPL, Porel has made 257 runs in ten matches, with an average of 28.56 and an impressive strike rate of 153.89. In Capitals' opening match, another young Indian, Ashutosh Sharma, hit 66 not out to single-handedly drag DC to a one-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants. He celebrated by mimicking Pietersen's trademark switch hit. "He's a sponge," Pietersen says of Ashutosh. "He's a bright, bright star. Spending a lot of time with these guys, you get a lot of reward when they do well," he added. Pietersen has had an excellent record in India across all formats, scoring 1,876 runs in 36 matches at an average of 45.75, with three centuries and 13 fifties. His best score was 186 in a Test match in Mumbai in 2012. Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals are currently in fifth place on the IPL points table with six wins and four losses. Their next match is against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Hyderabad on Monday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. (ANI)
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