Kevin Pietersen will have the chance to prove he can be a successful captain when he leads the Bangalore Royal Challengers on his Indian Premier League debut against Rajasthan Royals in Cape Town.

Pietersen lost his job as England skipper in January after barely five months following a fall-out with coach Peter Moores, who was also shown the door by the English Cricket Board.

Yet Pietersen - who at £1.04million was the joint-most expensive player at the IPL auction along with England team-mate Andrew Flintoff - has been placed in charge of a Bangalore squad also containing South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, former India captain Rahul Dravid and big-hitting New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder.

Veteran India leg-spinner Anil Kumble is confident the South African-born Pietersen will rise to the challenge of captaincy. He said: "Having Kevin Pietersen as captain will be interesting, as he has knowledge of local conditions and of batting over here - and it will be good to have his experience."

Pietersen and Flintoff are two of seven England-qualified players involved in the second season of the IPL, which has been switched from India to South Africa for security reasons.

Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Graham Napier and Dimitri Mascarenhas will also take part in the competition. Flintoff's Chennai Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians tomorrow, who have Essex batsman Napier in their squad.

Fixtures (day three of four): Div One - The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 216, Worcs 132 & 150-8. Taunton: Warwicks 500, Somerset 70-0. Div Two - Chelmsford: Derbys 326, Essex 29-0. Leicester: Northants 297-6 v Leics. The Oval: Gloucs 333, Surrey 18-3. University matches: Fenners: Sussex 527-7, Cambridge 36-3. The Racecourse: Durham Uni 154, Durham 172-9. Canterbury: Kent 499-5 v Loughborough. The Parks: Oxford 208, Glamorgan 74-2.