Pietersen reaches out to India on coronavirus awareness in Hindi

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen, on Friday, urged Indian citizens to follow government directions on self-isolation to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, posting a message in Hindi with some help from his former Indian Premier League teammate Sreevats Goswami.

The 39-year-old took to Twitter to say "Greetings India. Everyone is united in the fight against coronavirus and that everyone should listen to their government's instructions and stay at home for a few days. This is time to be smart."

"Namaste India, hum sab coronavirus ko harane mein ek saath hai, hum sab apne apne sarkar ki baat ka nirdes kare aur ghar me kuch Dino ke liye rahe, yeh samay hai hosiyaar rahene ka. App sabhi ko der sara pyaar," Pietersen tweeted in Hindi.

He credited Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Goswami for teaching him Hindi. Both have played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 2,00,000 people worldwide and led to over 9,000 deaths. In India more than 190 have tested positive so far and four have died.

The country's health ministry has repeatedly advised people to stay at home and on Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated a nationwide self-imposed curfew on Sunday to help the containment efforts.

Earlier this month, Pietersen visited the Kaziranga National Park in Assam to shoot a documentary on rhino conservation. He had lauded India's efforts in a series of tweets.

"The rhino population in India is BOOMING! Africa should take note! Face with monocle. Saving these iconic species CAN be done and IS being done here! Bravo, India!"

"India has given me so much over the last 15yrs & to be able to visit somewhere so remote and so spectacular today, just made my trip. I'm so much happier, that we can film a doc celebrating the beauty of #IncredibleIndia!" he had tweeted.