New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): England great Kevin Pietersen backed experienced Indian batter KL Rahul for a T20I team recall, highlighting his vast improvement in white-ball cricket over the last couple of years.

Rahul has been one of India's most consistent performers in 50-over cricket in recent times, with the right-hander playing a pivotal role in helping his side to the final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023 and to success at the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year.

But the 33-year-old hasn't featured for his country at T20I level since India's semi-final loss to England in Adelaide at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2022 after posting 128 runs in six matches at a poor average of 21.33, with two fifties, despite some excellent domestic form in the shortest format.

Rahul finished as the seventh leading run-scorer at last year's edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), amassing 520 runs for the Lucknow Super Giants at an average of 37.14, strike rate of 136.12, with four fifties. He has further upped his efforts this year as he continues to sit high up the run charts overall following some excellent innings for the Delhi Capitals, having made 364 runs in eight innings so far at an average of 60.66, with a strike rate of over 146 and three fifties.

It's at Delhi Capitals where Rahul has caught the eye of Pietersen, with the England legend working closely with the Indian star in his role as team mentor and predicting a return at T20I level for the talented right-hander.

While India has a plethora of options among their top-order, Pietersen believes Rahul is capable of slotting in at second drop in India's T20I side and providing the team with a reliable middle-order option.

'I would bat KL at four for India in T20 cricket,' Pietersen said in the post-match press conference after Delhi Capitals' defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, as quoted by ICC.

'I think you guys (India) have got plenty of opening batters, you have got Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) who bats at the top, you have got all of these guys but the way that KL Rahul is playing cricket now, he would be my first choice to bat at four and keep wicket for India.'

Rahul has three half-centuries for Delhi during the ongoing IPL season, with his best knock to date coming against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the start of the month when he contributed an unbeaten 93* from just 53 deliveries in a match-winning performance in Bengaluru.

Pietersen suggested Rahul had adapted his game in recent times to play with more flair, and the confidence he picked up when dismissed just once at this year's Champions Trophy event is continuing to show in the middle.

'KL has been playing in a very positive manner since late last year, mid to late last year. We saw how he finished off a couple of the games for India and almost sealed the deal in the Champions Trophy in Dubai,' Pietersen noted.

'I have had a lot of incredibly brilliant conversations with him about batting, a lot of deep and meaningful conversations because when you grow up as a youngster like he did and you get taught defence - elbow up, ... and then all of a sudden in your 30s, you've got to change it and you have got to become a different kind of player for a different format which is evolving all the time.'

'It's very, very difficult. So the way that he has accepted that he's needed to change, the way that he has changed is of great, great credit to the person that he is. He is so positive, the way that he practices, the way that he trains, the way he thinks about the game and also the way that he talks about the game. That's KL,' he concluded. (ANI)