Indian team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has backed his Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) teammate Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL). He said there won't be any type of disciplinary issues with Pietersen while playing for Pune-based franchise who will be making their debut this season.
Also Read: IPL 2016 Teams and full players list
Dhoni will be captaining the new franchise, RPSG team, in the ninth edition of IPL who bought Pietersen for $514,500 at a player auction. The former England captain has been performing well around the world in various twenty20 leagues like Big Bash League, Carribean Premier league, Ram Slam T20, etc. and can come in great use to Dhoni-lead team counting on his past records in subcontinental conditions.
Pietersen was suspended from the England team after the Ashes tour disaster in 2014, over several discipline issues. In 2009, Pietersen was forced to resign as captain after a fallout with coach Peter Moores, who was later sacked.
"Again, you know people are often judged by what comes in the media, but when you actually meet them they are totally different. I don't think there will be any issue with discipline," Dhoni said at an IPL promotional event in Delhi.
"As I said, KP is a fantastic player, someone who is very aggressive and at the same time very expressive on the field. It is good to have him in the side," he said.
The 35-year-old cricketer has played IPL earlier and his big-hitting exploits very well known in the tournament. Dhoni said that experience of Pietersen will help the young fellow in the team.
Rising Pune Supergiants Squad
Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Scott Boland, Deepak Chahar, MS Dhoni, Ashoke Dinda, Faf du Plessis, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Albie Morkel, Ishwar Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, Kevin Pietersen, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Jaskaran Singh, RP Singh, Steven Smith, Saurabh Tiwary, Adam Zampa.
Here are the IPL 2016 teams and full players list.
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