"So good to watch in full flow...": DC mentor Pietersen hails KL Rahul's century

New Delhi [India], May 18 (ANI): Following his side's innings against Gujarat Titans (GT), Delhi Capitals (DC) mentor Kevin Pietersen hailed batter KL Rahul for his century, saying that he is great to watch while in full flow.

KL's century, his fifth in the IPL, helped DC to a competitive total against GT at their home ground of Arun Jaitley Stadium, as they seek the seventh win, which will make their playoffs progress much easier.

Speaking after the innings, Pietersen said, "It is tough sitting and watching the boys, especially in the pressure situation we got into ourselves. We started well, got into a wobble, but the break must have done good for us. KL wanted to bat at the top of the order, and he is so good to watch when in full flow. When you can see players of that quality, watch them practice and then watch them put on a show during the match is good to see."

"It is just half the job done though, the top-3 (of Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler) have done a superb job (for Gujarat Titans), but we have Mustafizur (Rahman) who joined us this morning, and Nattu (T Natrajan) as well back from injury. Do not think there is any dew as well. We spoke about getting a solid start, we were poor in that phase during the last few matches and we then solidified during the middle overs before exploding towards the end, 200 I think is a good target," he added.

Coming to the match, GT won the toss and opted to bowl first. After DC lost Faf Du Plessis early, a 90-run stand between KL Rahul and Abishek Porel (30 in 19 balls, with a four and three sixes) and cameos from skipper Axar Patel (25 in 16 balls, with two fours and a six) and Tristan Stubbs (21* in 10 balls, with two sixes) helped DC reach 199/3.

Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna and Arshad Khan got a wicket each.

Now, DC needs to defend 200 runs to get their seventh win of the season and make things easier for themselves going forward towards the playoffs. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)