Not Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma!! Kevin Pietersen names India's most valuable batsman for T20 World Cup 2024

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has shared his thoughts on the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean. The tournament will be played from June 2-29 2024 with India playing all three league games in New York.

England have won the T20 World Cup title twice. They won the title first time in 2010 with KP winning the Player of the Series award for scoring 248 runs in the tournament including a 47 off 31 balls in the final against Australia.

India begins their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland in New York on June 5. Next they play Pakistan (June 9), USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15). India play their first three games in New York and their final league game in Florida.

Pietersen in an exclusive with Times of India spoke about the Indian batter to watch out for. He named the Indian batter to make an impact on the tournament and it is none other than Shubman Gill. “It is Shubman Gill. He is the guy” said Pietersen when asked about the Indian batter who will make an impact.

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Kevin Pietersen Backs Shubman Gill To Have A Successful T20 World Cup 2024

Speaking about Gill, he is currently struggling in Test cricket. His last four scores in Test cricket are 36. 10, 23, and 0 after the first innings against England. He scored just 74 runs in the series at an average of 18.50. Talking about Gill’s overall record in Test cricket, he has scored 1068 runs in 23 Test matches at an average of 29.53.

Pietersen believes that players who will perform well in this year’s IPL will have a bigger chance of succeeding in the T20 World Cup. Gill is set to lead the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023 after Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians ahead Of IPL 2024. Gill scored 890 runs in IPL 2023 as Gujarat Titans lost the final to CSK who won the title for the fifth time in the IPL.

Shubman Gill has failed to replicate his ODI form in test and T20I cricket. He scored 1584 runs in 29 ODIs in 2023 at an average of 63.36. However, his numbers dipped drastically in Test and T20I cricket in the same year. The youngster has scored just 312 runs in 13 T20Is in 2023 at an average of 26.00. Given that he bats in the top three in white-ball cricket, the numbers are mediocre. In six Tests in 2023, Gill has scored just 258 runs at an average of 28.67.

Gill is likely to be dropped heading into the second Test given his performance in the first Test. He struggled badly against the England spinners and managed to score 23 in the first innings. In the second innings, with India requiring 231 to win, Gill scored a duck.

Pietersen concluded by saying that the conditions for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies are very similar to that in India. He expects the wickets to have low bounce and assist spin.

“The conditions are pretty similar to what is here in India actually. There will be very low bounce wickets. It takes some spin, but they are also beautiful wickets,” Kevin Pietersen concluded saying.

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