Just breathtaking: Kevin Pietersen lauds Mayank Agarwal's 99-run knock on IPL captaincy debut

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen was full of praise for Mayank Agarwal, who slammed an unbeaten 99 on his captaincy debut for Punjab Kings, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match against Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

PBKS captain KL Rahul was rushed to the hospital for surgery after the batsman was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and Mayank was named the stand-in captain for the Punjab outfit. Mayank didn’t disappoint as he led his troops from the front and smashed 99 not-out off 58 deliveries to help PBKS post 166/6 in 20 overs.

Mayank’s 99-run knock in 58 balls is the second-best score on a captaincy debut in IPL – next to Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson’s score of 119 which came against Punjab Kings earlier in IPL 2021.

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"I think I said on commentary that captaincy can go one of two ways. You can either deal with it, that weight of expectations that clearly is just thrown straight amongst what you got to do for your team. It can create pressure, you start to worry about your players, your team," Pietersen said on Star Sports.

"He also did not play the previous game and KL Rahul did so well so there has been so much pressure leading into this game. Yes, he has been playing so well and he is a quality player. But sometimes you do question yourself," he added.

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"But I tell you what, he may have questioned himself before the game, but there is no more question to answer. When you go out and play an innings like he has just played here for all of us to see. It is just breathtaking," he signed off.

Punjab Kings have three wins in seven games whereas Delhi Capitals have five wins in seven matches in IPL 2021.