London, Apr 16 (ANI): Kevin Pietersen faces more testing times than his club mates as he is expected to excel not only as a batsman, but also as a captain of a team which finished seventh out of eight teams in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.

Bangalore Royal Challengers desperately need Pietersen’s magic to revive their fortunes in South Africa, having won just four of their 14 matches last season.

Bangalore was dubbed a “test team” for having players with better test than Twenty20 credentials, like Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis, but hope to turn things around this time under the charismatic Pietersen, Sports 24 reports.

“A player like Kevin is a great buy for us. He is one of the most explosive batsmen in the world and will bring a lot of class to our team,” said franchise chairperson Vijay Mallya.

Pietersen and compatriot Andrew Flintoff were the highest paid among auctioned cricketers at 1.55 million dollars each.

The burden of expectations will be more on the million-dollar men than others as they need to justify their huge pay-cheques.

Allrounder Flintoff is expected to provide more solidity to Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings, who finished runners-up to Rajasthan Royals last year.

Flintoff said the IPL would help him prepare for England’s busy season, which includes the World Twenty20 in June and the Test series against the West Indies and Australia.

Pietersen and Flintoff will play only the first two weeks of the IPL before returning home in early-May to prepare for the series against the West Indies. (ANI)