England batting great Kevin Pietersen’s son Dylan received an autographed Indian jersey from star batter Virat Kohli, with the inventor of “switch-hit” sharing a heartwarming post on social media. Pietersen took to Instagram of his son wearing a shirt from Virat, which had his autograph with “To Dylan, with best wishes” written on it. “Got home and gave @dylanpietersenphotography a gift from @virat.kohli and it goes straight on! Fits like a glove. Thanks buddy!,” said Pietersen’s post caption.
Pietersen shares a great bond with the Indian legend, often extending his support and strong sentiments related to Virat on social media, be it during his days of breaking records and scoring tons or facing a downward curve in form.
Their bond of friendship really strengthened during the early years of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when Pietersen played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from 2009-10. In 13 matches, he scored 329 runs at an average of 32.90 and a strike rate of 135.95, with two fifties. His best score was 66*.
Now coming to Virat, he was in action during the ODI series against England, which concluded on Wednesday. After missing the first ODI due to a knee injury, he scored five and 52 in the remaining matches.
The 36-year-old batter will be in action during the ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 19 onwards. The batter would be aiming to overcome his prolonged slump in form.
Virat ended the last year with just 655 international runs in 23 matches and 32 innings, averaging 21.83, with a century and two fifties to his name. His best score was 100*.
India’s squad for ICC Champions Trophy, 2025: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill (Vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Non-travelling substitutes: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. The three players will travel to Dubai as and when required.
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