Rahul Dravid once again showed his class with the bat against Deccan and I would like to see him open the batting with Kevin Pietersen. It is only 20 overs so get him in. If those two get in they will be able to chase down any total and post a big score.
Jesse Ryder has struggled with the bat, he has had a couple of ducks and his confidence is low. Robin Uthappa has not done particularly well and I would love to see Dravid and Pietersen at the top of the order. Bangalore need some sort of boost and they could be the perfect partnership to do that.
Bangalore were beaten on Wednesday, but a positive that can be taken from the game is the captaincy of Pietersen.
KP is a thinking cricketer and is a quick learner. He has had some stick for his captaincy in the past, but he is a good thinker and I would not rule him out captaining England again at some time down the line.
He struggled early on, but that has to be down to the bowlers as well and also Adam Gilchrist was in great touch, but KP showed a lot of maturity.
There was one instance where one of the young lads dropped a catch and KP made a point of going over to him and saying ‘next time you’ll catch it’ and that is the perfect thing to do.
Regarding Lalit Modi’s statement about clamping down on indiscipline from players, he is absolutely right. Maybe footballers should take note as you want a directive from the top setting things out. He has not scratched the surface with his comments, he has said what he wants and I don’t think there will be anybody stepping out of line.