Delhi Capitals thank Kevin Pietersen in a moving post: ‘Once a Dilliwala, always a Dilliwala’

The IPL franchise appears to have taken the KP decision in their stride. But KP quitting was surprising, to say the least.

Updated on: Mar 15, 2026, 16:43:53 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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There is no bad blood between Kevin Pietersen and Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals after the former England batsman quit his mentor role on Saturday.

Good luck for the commentary stint, KP! And cheers! (Vipin Kumar)

The league is going to kick off later this month, and many thought KP's decision was a bit last-minute. His social media post in Hindi had given rise to speculation as to what could have happened. Here is the translation of his post on X.

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"I cannot be a mentor for Delhi Capitals in this IPL season as I can't commit to the time that the job requires. Best wishes to all the players for this season. However, I will see you back in the commentary box. IPL is the world's best league, and I can't wait to see all of you soon."

Delhi Capitals have replied now, and this is they kind of reply one would expect from a team from the national capital. Their reaction speaks of a lot of understanding on their part. There is a reason Delhi people are considered big-hearted. "Once a Dilliwala, always a Dilliwala. Thank you for all the love and roars, KP," the franchise wrote on its X handle on Sunday.

And what a time he had at Delhi, as a player!

And KP is a Dilliwala for sure. He has played for the franchise back in the day when it was called Delhi Daredevils. And he won many a game for them. On one occasion, when he scored a match-winning century at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium -- now it has been renamed the Arun Jaitley Stadium -- the whole stadium rose on its feet to acknowledge his extraordinary efforts. Pietersen has since spoken of playing in front of the Delhi crowds many times, calling the whole experience emotional as well as surreal.

Delhi, who finished fifth on the points table last season as they narrowly failed to qualify for the playoffs, kick off their IPL 19 campaign on April 1 as they travel to the Ekana Cricket Stadium to play Lucknow Super Giants. After which they will play back-to-back matches at home against five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans respectively, on April 4 and April 8. On April 11, they travel to the Chidambaram Stadium to play another five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings. The IPL has announced only a 16-day schedule as of now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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