"Dhoni’s first Test wicket as the mentor?"- Fans react as DC appoints Kevin Pietersen as mentor ahead of IPL 2025

Delhi Capitals (DC) have appointed former England captain Kevin Pietersen as a mentor ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 season. The 44-year-old was part of the franchise as a player in 2012 and 2014. Pietersen will work with head coach Hemang Badani and other support staff members Matthew Mott, Munaf Patel, and Venugopal Rao at DC during IPL 2025.

Delhi Capitals failed to make the playoffs in IPL 2024, finishing in the sixth position on the points table. Ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, they parted ways with Ricky Ponting and Rishabh Pant, who were the head coach and captain, respectively, the previous season. At the auction, the Capitals reinforced their squad by purchasing quality players like KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, and Faf du Plessis, among others.

Fans took note of DC's decision to rope in Kevin Pietersen as a mentor and expressed their reactions through their posts on X (formerly Twitter). Here are some of them:

"Dhoni’s first Test wicket as the mentor??" a fan wrote.

"KP back with Delhi Capitals? Feels like 2012 all over again!" another fan wrote.

"KP ki main job hai, KL ko jake bolna, 'You are the best, you are the best stroke maker in the world. No one can play flick, square cut, square drive, cover drive 6, pull, hook, third man lofted 6 better than you,'" a fan joked.

"He certainly will be better off on the field than in the commentary box. Love his batting, but not so much his commentary. Go Kevin!" commented a fan.

"Welcome back KP now waiting for the captaincy announcement," a fan wrote.

"All England players have their main focus on just IPL. Even ECB is changing policy for IPL season. And this could be the reason their actual cricket falls," another fan commented.

"DC bringing in a legend like KP as mentor? This could be the missing piece to push them to their first IPL title!," an X user wrote.

"Such a great news bro has better game awareness than previous DC mentor," another fan wrote.

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Kevin Pietersen's record as a player for DC in IPL

Pietersen enjoyed a decent time in IPL 2012 with the bat, scoring 305 runs in eight games, including a century. Pietersen then captained the Delhi franchise in IPL 2014, but it was a season to forget as his team ended at the bottom of the points table.

He also endured a below-average season with the bat, accumulating 294 runs across 11 games. Kevin Pietersen last represented Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2016 before hanging up his boots and turning into a commentator.