Pietersen will have positive effect - Steyn

Dale Steyn believes captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Ray Jennings have leadership and management skills to take Bangalore Royal Challengers right to the top in the IPL. Pietersen's style of leading by example, he said, would have a positive effect on the team while Jennings' ability to crack the whip would help players stay focused.

"He [Pietersen] leads from the front always. That is a great strength of his," Steyn told Cricinfo from Johannesburg ahead of the final ODI against Australia.

The team's owners, unhappy with their second-last position in the inaugural tournament, appointed a new coach and captain: Martin Crowe, who was the coaching director, was replaced by Jennings while Pietersen took over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid, the team's icon player.

Steyn said he did not know Pietersen well enough to understand him, having played against him only last year in England. That would apply to many in the team, so Steyn felt the challenge was to get acquainted quickly and understand Pietersen's philosophy. "I don't know him at all. I have played against him but I still don't know what kind of a man he is, what kind of mood swings he has, but it is going to be interesting and we are going to have to find our feet quickly."

According to Steyn, Bangalore were unlucky to lose a lot of games marginally last year. "We did not dominate, but we were competitive", Steyn said. He felt things would be different this time, especially because of Jennings, who has the ability to turn rank outsiders into champions.

"He is capable of turning teams that have nothing into something fantastic," Steyn said. "He is really good at it. I remember him taking Eastern province [in 2001], who were an almost nothing team, to winning the SuperSport series, the four-day championship, one of the most difficult competitions to win."

Jennings was coaching South Africa when Steyn made his international debut in 2003. For Jennings, it was important to help Steyn find his feet as quickly as possible. That did not happen; Steyn had to go back and work hard before coming back a year later. Things are different now and he is enjoying one the best phases of his career. For the better part of the last five months he has performed well against the Australians. He was the highest wicket-taker in both the home and away Test series; he also shared the top spot with team-mate Makhaya Ntini in the ODI series in Australia, and is the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing ODI series.

"Back then he was coaching and now he is going to be managing me," Steyn said when asked what sort of a relationship he expected to forge with Jennings. A possible worry for Bangalore is the absence of Zaheer Khan, one the best fast bowlers in the game today, who moved to Mumbai Indians. Steyn said the inclusion of slow bowlers like Roelof van der Merwe was likely to balance the loss.

"Zaheer brings something different into the team in that he is left-arm fast bowler and complements me perfectly. He was fantastic for us last year and comes with a lot of experience. We are going to miss him. But if you have seen the domestic Twenty20 tournament in the last two years in South Africa, the spinners have been the match-winners. Roelof van der Merwe has been the hero. He can be useful and can pair with another spinner to do the damage."

The presence of four South Africans in the Bangalore squad - Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, van der Merwe and Steyn - was considered an advantage by outsiders and Steyn agreed. "We have been playing well and we definitely know the conditions a hell of a lot better in our own country. Even if the four international players cannot be all from South Africa in an IPL game, you are going to get a lot of advice from the local players. It can only help to get the extra bit of advice."

Last year Steyn had inadvertently summed up Bangalore's low-key performance with an unforgettable quote. "The IPL was only four overs a game and it was like a paid holiday; you only had to work hard if you felt like it, which is probably why we finished second-last." Did he still consider it a party? Steyn had a hearty laugh. He said this time the IPL was at an opportune time for players who would be preparing for the World Twenty20 in June in England.

"The IPL is a great tournament. This year it is even better because it becomes a bridge into the World Twenty20 which will start in England immediately in June. There is no better preparation than competing in the IPL, which is a Twenty20 competition."