KL Rahul came in to bat and made up for his absence in the previous edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) with a single inning. Rahul toyed with experienced bowlers like Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami and Amit Mishra and made them look amateurs with his clean-hitting. The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) opener scored just 2 runs off the first three balls he faced and then went on to score the fastest IPL century off just 14 balls, breaking joint-record of Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan.
Overall it is the joint-third fastest half-century in T20 cricket. Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle have done it in 12 balls whereas Marcus Trescothick reached the feat in just 13 balls. The 25-year-old also became the first batsman to score a half-century in under 3 overs of the innings.
When KL Rahul turned the EA Sports Mode onhttps://t.co/9S4SuwZXgT
— Faizal Khan (@faizalkhanm9) April 8, 2018
In the 5th over, Mishra was on the receiving end as Rahul struck him for 3 fours and 2 sixes. However, he could not covert it into a big score and got out after scoring 51 runs from 16 balls at a strike rate of 318.75, including six fours and 4 sixes.
ALSO READ: IPL 2018, KKR vs RCB: Meet Agra’s Rinku Singh — Kolkata Knight Rider’s New Trump Card!
Rahul got out in the 5th over but by then the required run rate had dropped to under 7 runs per over. KXIP cruised to an easy win as Karun Nair scored a half-century and held on to one end despite wickets that kept falling from the other end. KXIP won the match by 6 wickets with 7 balls to spare.
Rahul was not retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2018 auctions as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and KXIP were heavily bidding for him. Rahul was one of the highest run-scorers in IPL 2016 as well when RCB reached the final and missed out on their maiden title by a whisker.
