Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

England batting legend Kevin Pietersen has pinpointed Shubman Gill and MS Dhoni as two players to watch out for in the upcoming IPL 2020 tournament.

Pietersen, previewing the tournament for Betway, said he can’t wait to see Gill in action. Indeed, Gill has been earmarked for greatness at a young age, and is set to get an extended run at the top of the order for Kolkata Knight Riders. Gill, an Orange Cap contender, averages over 47 in six innings as an IPL opener.

“One that I can’t wait to see again is Shubman Gill, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders,” said KP, who believes Gill should have been in India’s World Cup squad. “He is a young opening batsman who I thought was very unlucky to miss out on the India squad for the World Cup in England after a brilliant 2019 IPL. He averaged more than 30 as a 19-year-old during that competition.”

“I think he’s definitely somebody that we will be watching on our television screens for a long time.”

Pietersen will also be keeping a close eye on CSK captain MS Dhoni. Dhoni, who recently retired from international cricket, has a vital role to play as a leader in IPL 2020, given the challenges that CSK face with COVID-19 and player withdrawals.

“Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his international retirement a few weeks ago, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he goes in this competition,” wrote KP, who then went on to see that his extended break would either be a positive or negative for Dhoni. “But, after this long break from cricket, and everything that’s been associated with it, it’s difficult to know how he will be feeling. It might have refreshed him and set him up positively, or it might have had a negative influence on his game. I don’t think it will be somewhere between the two.”

Gill and Dhoni were two key talking points out of five for Kevin Pietersen. You can catch his full IPL preview here, which includes two teams he is watching closely.