KL Rahul made RCB pay for giving him 'nice' deliveries at the start: Kevin Pietersen

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen said there will be more questions asked of Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowling attack, given their performance against Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match in Dubai on Thursday.

RCB bowlers came up with an impressive showing in their successful defence of 164 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. However, familiar problems returned to haunt them on a horror evening in Dubai as Kings XI Punjab amassed 206 runs. RCB leaked 72 runs in the last 4 overs, 49 in the last 2 overs as KL Rahul took them to the cleaners, hitting 132 in just 69 balls.

Virat Kohli put down 2 catches in as many overs before KL Rahul completed a stunning hundred -- the first 3-figure score of IPL 2020.

Having bowled out Naveeep Saini, Virat Kohli went in with Dale Steyn and Shivam Dube for the last 2 overs. Steyn finished with figures of 0/57 while Dube was hit for 23 runs in the last over.

"There are going to be questions throughout. There's going to be questions again leading into the next game and then the next game about RCB's bowling attack. Unfortunately, what we have seen tonight, it's going to lend itself to those questions coming back again," Kevin Pietersen told Star Sports.

"Yes, and that's why, leading up to their first game, I know it has started with us, but the questions are always about RCB's bowling attack. Can they deliver? Because for that many times, since the inception of the tournament, it's been RCB's bowlers (under the pump). They have had the batters, they have had all the batters, even I batted ages ago, got to the semi-final or final and then it never ever materialised.

How RCB new-ball bowlers helped Rahul: Pietersen explains

Pietersen also pointed out that RCB gifted KL Rahul a lot of loose deliveries at the start of the KXIP innings and the record-breaker made them pay for it. Rahul's 132 not out is the highest score by an Indian batsman in the history of the IPL and the highest by a captain.

"It was very special. He was composed. He got really nice deliveries to get himself off the mark," Pietersen said.

"When you're batting in T20 cricket and you get a couple on your legs that you can clip away, you then get a couple of short and wide balls from Dale Steyn that he put away. He the got the no ball that he whacked over extra-cover. You give a player of that quality that many opportunities to get away, he is going to make them pay and he did that tonight.