Kevin Pietersen arrived into the conscious of IPL fans in spectacular fashion: at the auction for the 2009 edition, he was picked up for a whopping £1.1m by Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Representing a number of franchises, his IPL career saw him play 36 matches and tally 1,001 runs as he played alongside other greats of the game.

In an exclusive interview with Betway, Pietersen opened up about his experiences at the tournament.

On captaining legends of the game

Being able to have Anil Kumble, Dale Steyn, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid – just to name a few – a young Virat Kohli, was something as a foreign player you just put your hands together, lick your lips and you go out and say: ‘Right guys, let’s go out and do business’. There’s not much talking that you need to do. You just have to try and strategically place players in certain places and keep all those guys happy.

Batting alongside the explosive Virender Sehwag

I just remember batting with the likes of Sehwag. That was quite an eye-opener, just the careless, free spirit that he is. He sings when the bowlers are running up to bowl to him and just goes pongo, pingo, pango – just whacks it all over the place. Some of the most fun experiences on the cricket field were with Virender Sehwag, just a superstar man.

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Recognising Virat Kohli’s greatness

Sitting on the bus with Virat, and batting with Virat, I just knew he was destined for greatness because of the way he approached the game, the way he learnt, the questions that he asked. He was a chubby little fella in 2008, 2009, 2010. I still take the mickey out of him for it, but his determination to be the best player he could possibly be was evident.

I was winning the game for us against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur and he ran me out. I gave him an absolute serve walking off the field. But you could see that youngster who was destined and determined to get his team over the line. He wasn’t just gonna give his wicket away. It didn’t matter how many Test matches I played or how much more senior in the game I was – we do have an incredible friendship because of maybe the way I treated him when he was a youngster and helped him and guided him at the start of his career.